Maharashtra government is in the process of challenging the Bombay high court judgment which held that ‘skin-to-skin contact’ was a must to attract an offence of ‘sexual assault’ under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.
State advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni told TOI on Friday that the state would be filing a special leave petition against the judgment passed by Justice Pushpa Ganediwala of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay HC. The judgment had led to an outcry and was stayed by the Supreme Court.
On Wednesday, a group of women lawyers at Bombay HC wrote to CM Uddhav Thackeray, who is also the law minister, to ensure that the state challenges the judgment before it “becomes a dangerous precedent”. The next day the lawyers also wrote to Kumbhakoni with the same plea.