Pushpa Ganediwala Resigns As Additional Judge, May Join Law Firm

A day before her tenure as the additional judge was going to end, Pushpa Ganediwala has resigned. Ganediwala found her self courting controversy after her "skin-to-skin contact" judgement in the Protection of Children From Sexual Offence (POCSO) case. This judgement had caused uproar in the entire country.

The 53-year-old Justice Ganediwala tendered her resignation to the President of India Ramnath Kovind. She has also marked a copy of it to the Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court Dipankar Datta. She resigned yesterday and today is her last working day as the additional judge.

The Time of India reported that the resignation implies that the Justice will be quitting her service to resume her practice. If she would have continued in her service, she would have gone back to the lower judiciary as the Supreme Court had denied to make her a permanent judge on the basis of her controversial judgements.

Suggested Reading: There’s More To Sexual Assault Than Skin To Skin Contact

The basis of denying her the permanent position was her two judgements in POCSO cases which had gotten massive backlash. She was serving as the ad hoc Bombay High Court judge and was given a year's extension by the centre. It was going to end in the second week of February this year. For her, the next step from being an additional judge at high court would be to become permanent. But since that was denied, she would have to go back and be a District judge. This was a massive step back.

However, this was not the first time that her proposal to become a permanent judge was denied. In January 2020, the then CJI SA Bobde had recommended her name to the Union Government but this recommendation was withdrawn considering her "insensitive" judgements.

"Once you become a high court judge, going back to the lower judiciary is a demotion. Of course, she is not the first one to resign as HC judge; there are many such precedents," said a senior unnamed lawyer to TOI. Reportedly, she will pursue either arbitration and litigation in the Supreme Court or join her relative's law firm in Mumbai.

Pushpa Ganediwala Resigns: Throwback To Her Controversial Judgements

- On January 19, 2020, she let go of a 39-year-old accused man, who was charged under section 6 of the POCSO Act for allegedly pressing the minor girl's breast. She, in her judgement, dismissed the charges, saying that sexual assault without removing the minor's top means there was no "skin-to-skin contact" between the survivor and the accused. Thus not making it a POCSO case.

This judgement was reversed by the Supreme Court bench comprising of Justices Uday Umesh Lalit, Bela M Trivedi and S Ravindra Bhat on November 18. They called it absurd and questioned the narrow "interpretation." They also stated that according to her judgement, any person wearing gloves to grope has not committed the crime.

- In the same month of January, nine days after giving "skin-to-skin contact" judgement, she also let go of a 50-year-old accused man for holding a minor's hand and unzipping her pant in front of her. According to Ganediwala, this incident too did not count as a POCSO crime. Later, it was reversed by Supreme Court. Read more here.