Bollywood actor Taapsee Pannu has sarcastically linked the Bombay High Court’s order declaring that groping of a girl child was not a crime under the POCSO Act to the National Girl Child Day, marked on 24 January. Taapsee also added that she had no words to express on the Bombay High Court’s controversial verdict.
The Pink actor was responding to a tweet by a journalist, who herself was in a state of shock as she reacted angrily to the Bombay High Court’s order, “Are you f-ing kidding me?”
Sharing the journalist’s tweet, Taapsee wrote, “I tried for long but m still left with no words to describe how I feel after reading this.”
I tried for long but m still left with no words to describe how I feel after reading this. https://t.co/U8BKFrkhu8
— taapsee pannu (@taapsee) January 24, 2021
Ironically, the Bombay High Court’s order was widely reported in the media on the day of the National Girl Child Day. Taapsee wrote sarcastically, “Got it now. Happy #NationalGirlChildDay2021.”
Got it now.
Happy #NationalGirlChildDay2021 https://t.co/Fc5kT87ttD— taapsee pannu (@taapsee) January 24, 2021
Netizens had reacted with anger after the Bombay High Court ruled that pressing the breast of a child without removing her clothes did not amount to sexual assault under Section 7 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). According to an order passed by the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court, the act of groping a child without removing her clothes would only amount to ‘outraging modesty’ under the IPC.
“The act of pressing of breast of the child aged 12 years, in the absence of any specific detail as to whether the top was removed or whether he inserted his hand inside top and pressed her breast, would not fall in the definition of ‘sexual assault’. It would certainly fall within the definition of the offence under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code,” the Bar and Bench website quoted the Bombay High Court order.