Devshri Trivedi a political analyst from Ahmedabad claims to have sent 150 condoms to Bombay High Court additional judge Justice Pushpa V Ganediwala as a mark of protest against her recent controversial verdicts in sexual assault cases under the POCSO Act.
Trivedi sent 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.
“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,” Trivedi said.
Trivedi took the step after Bombay High Court additional judge Justice Pushpa V Ganediwala acquitted a 39-year-old man from a sexual assault case.
The man was accused of sexual assault for pressing the breasts of a twelve-year-old child over her clothes. On January 19 Justice Ganediwala vindicated him on the grounds that without “skin-to-skin” physical contact the incident does not equal a “sexual assault” under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.
Ganediwala earlier has been criticized for her another verdict in which she claimed that the act of “holding the hands of a minor” or “opening the zip of pants” by the accused is not considered sexual assault under the POCSO Act.
Ganediwala was up to become a permanent judge by the Supreme Court Collegium in January 2021. But after the massive backlash against her judgments, the Collegium decided to withdraw its recommendation.
