Chingsanghoih Guite/ The Hauterfly
Chingsanghoih Guite/ The Hauterfly
Different people have different ways of expressing their gratitude and disappointments. For me, that way is to have an open and honest conversation, whether to appreciate to criticize. On the other hand for this woman who is a political analyst, her way to express disgust was to do it by sending Justice Pushpa Gandediwala almost 150 condoms. Why send condoms to the judge? to subtly stand up against Judge Pushpa’s recent judgement where she ruled ‘skin-to-skin’ to be an imperative factor in charging someone under the POCSO act.
It was last month in January when we were hit with a rather upsetting judgement, coming from Justice Pushpa Ganediwala on a case where though a minor was groped by a man, he wasn’t charged because it wasn’t ‘skin-to-skin’ contact. The decision was taken by the single-judge bench and riled up quite a few people, including Devshri Trivedi who chose to send condoms to 12 different locations, including Justice Ganediwala’s chamber, the registry of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court and the principal seat in Mumbai.
Devshri Trivedi spoke about her dissent on the matter as she said, “I cannot tolerate injustice. A minor girl did not get justice because of a judgment by Justice Ganediwala. I am demanding that she (Justice Ganediwala) be suspended.”
Woman from Ahmedabad claims to have sent 150 condoms to Bombay High Court Additional Judge J. Pushpa V Ganediwala as a mark of protest against her recent controversial 'skin-to-skin' contact judgment.#SupremeCourt #law #WritingCommnunity #BookBoost #books #justice #protest pic.twitter.com/1rBxExf84Y
— Glocalex (@glocalex) February 18, 2021
#Gujarat woman sends condoms to Justice Pushpa Ganediwala to protest ‘skin-toskin’ verdict.
She mailed to various address at #Nagpur including fhe HC registry here and judge's offical residence. She also sent some pkts to HC's principal bench in #Mumbai pic.twitter.com/AK2qOANHGY
— Shashank Gattewar (@SGattewar_NGP) February 18, 2021
Admitting to sending packets of condoms to a few addresses on February 9 and receiving the delivery information, she said, “As a woman, I do not feel I have done anything wrong. I do not have any guilt. Women have to stand up for their rights. By this order of Justice Ganediwala, men can go scot-free for sexually assaulting girls over their clothes.”
At this point, relating to Devshri’s sentiment comes almost naturally, considering how unfair the January 19 verdict of Justice Ganediwala had been. It wasn’t just Justice Ganediwala’s only ruling that got people’s goat during the case. Furthermore she had also passed statements that acts like “holding the hands of a minor” and the accused “opening the zip of pants” did not account to assault.
Meanwhile, people like the senior advocate of the Nagpur Bar Association, Shrirang Bhandarkar, said, “This is a clear case of contempt. We demand that action should be taken against this woman.” Justice Ganediwala who was recommended for a permanent judge by the Supreme court had her recommendation withdrawn by the Collegium after her controversial verdict. At present, her tenure as an additional judge has been renewed for a year.
