43,000 offences under POCSO Act registered last year: AG KK Venugopal to SC

Supreme Court | File Pic

As many as 43,000 offences registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in the last year, Attorney General of India KK Venugopal told the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Venugopal provided the information during the hearing of appeals against the controversial Bombay High Court judgment that held that groping a minor's breast without "skin to skin contact" cannot be termed as sexual assault as defined under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The Attorney-General said that it's an outrageous judgement so far as POCSO is concerned. "The judge said skin to skin contact is required. This would mean someone can wear a surgical glove and exploit a child and get away scot-free. The accused tried to bring down the salwar and even then bail was granted. This would be a precedent for magistrates in Maharashtra. Better appreciation would be needed for the definition of sexual assault. There are 43,000 POCSO offences in the last year," he said.

Also Read: Attorney General slams Bombay High Court's ‘skin-to-skin' contact judgment

The Court was hearing petitions filed by the Attorney General, State of Maharashtra and the National Commission for Women (NCW) against the January 19 judgment passed by the High Court, which held that pressing the breast of a 12-year-old child without removing her top will not fall within the definition of 'sexual assault'.

A Bench of Justices UU Lalit and Ajay Rastogi directed its Legal Services Committee to appoint a lawyer to represent the accused in the case. Since the accused are not being represented, the Bench directed SC Legal services Committee to make available services of any senior advocate on its panel along with any other Advocate-on-Record (AOR) to appear on behalf of the accused.

The matter will be next heard on September 14. Earlier, the apex court-appointed senior advocate Siddharth Dave to assist it in the case.

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