The SC has ruled that ‘skin to skin’ contact is not necessary for a crime to come into consideration under the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. It has called it a ‘narrow interpretation of the law’.
The court has also set aside the Bombay HC judgment which had acquitted a man saying that ‘groping a minor’s breast without ‘skin to skin’ contact cannot be called as a sexual assault under POCSO’.
The court pointed out that the main objective of POCSO is to protect the children from sexual abuse. It also added that the physical contact made with sexual intent comes under POCSO, and ‘skin to skin’ contact is not the criteria.
