Justice Pushpa Ganediwala, a former Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench), has moved the court seeking pension as applicable to a judge.
Justice Ganediwala, who came under a cloud after her ‘skin-to-skin’ verdict in a rape case, was compelled to resign after she was denied elevation as Permanent Judge here last year.
She has challenged the high court (Original Side) registrar’s communication of November 2, 2022 that she was ineligible for the pension and other benefits as entitled to a judge.
In her plea last fortnight, Ganediwala has contended that irrespective of whether she retired voluntarily or after attaining superannuation, she was entitled to pension and other benefits.
Her plea has named as respondents: the Bombay HC through the Registrar-General, the Union Ministry of Law & Justice, Maharashtra Law & Judiciary Department Secretary and others, and it is likely to come up for hearing in due course.
After practising as a lawyer for seven years, Ganediwala was appointed as a District Judge in 2007, later served as Joint Director of Maharashtra Judicial Academy, Principal Judge in the City Civil & Sessions Court, and as a HC Registrar, before being elevated as an Additional Judge on February 13, 2019 for two years.
Three of her judgements had created a furore — in one she set aside a rape conviction saying there was nothing to support the prosecution case, in the second she said that holding hands of a minor or the accused’ pants zip open at that time did not amount to sexual assault, and in the third held that pressing a 12-year-old girl’s breast without removing her top did not constitute sexual assault — all delivered within a week in January 2021.
The final one — that became infamous for her suggestion that direct ‘skin-to-skin’ contact was necessary to constitute an offence of sexual assault under the POCSO Act — had resulted in a massive public furore.
The fracas led to the Supreme Court revoking its recommendation to make her a Permanent Judge in January 2020, her verdict was overruled in November 2021, and finally she resigned on February11, 2022.
In her plea seeking pension and other benefits, filed through a lawyer on July 19, Ganediwala said that she had worked as an Additional Judge for nearly three years and as a district judge for over 11 years.