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Touching child’s cheek without sexual intent is not assault: Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court has ruled that touching a child’s cheeks without any sexual intent is not considered sexual assault’ under the Pocso Act. The court made this statement while granting bail to a 46-year-old man charged with several Pocso offences. The defendant owns a chicken farm and is accused of molesting a minor at his meat shop. The incident occurred in the year 2020 and the suspect was apprehended by Thane’s Rabodi police. The accused has been in jail since then.

According to reports, a woman saw the accused escorting the girl to his shop and touched her on the cheek. He allegedly unbuttoned his shirt and was going to unbutton his pants. The child’s mother, according to the court order, filed the complaint after witnessing the shopkeeper stroking her daughters’ cheeks. Apart from touching the cheeks, nothing else is included in the court ruling.

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Hearing the case, Justice Sandeep K Shinde’s bench stated that a preliminary examination of the evidence does not imply that he allegedly touched the child’s cheeks with any sexual intent.

‘Whoever with sexual intent touches the vagina, penis, anus or breast of the child or makes the child touch the vagina, penis, anus or breast of such person or any other person or does any other act with sexual intent which involves physical contact without penetration is said to commit sexual assault,’ section 7 of the Pocso Act reads, cited by the court in this case.

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