No extension, Bombay high court judge who gave ‘skin-to-skin’ order to go back to district court – Times of India

NEW DELHI: In a rare instance, the Supreme Court has taken the tough decision of refusing to continue Justice Pushpa V Ganediwala, who stirred a controversy in January this year with her back-to-back judgments taking what was seen as a warped and insensitive view of sexual crimes against children, as an additional judge of the Bombay high court.
The collegium comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices U U Lalit and A M Khanwilkar decided not to grant further extension of the tenure to Justice Ganediwala as an additional judge of the high court. Her two controversial judgments, including one that held skin-to-skin contact is a must for constituting a sexual offence, had forced the earlier collegium headed by then CJI S A Bobde to withdraw its January 20 recommendation to the government to appoint her as a permanent judge of the HC.
The controversy and opposition from SC judges forced the collegium to withdraw the recommendation for making her a permanent judge, it then had recommended to the Centre to grant her a two-year extension as additional judge. However, the government disagreed and granted her a oneyear extension, which would end on February 12, 2022.
Now, with the collegium headed by CJI Ramana remitting her case back to the Bombay HC, Justice Ganediwala faces the prospect of getting relegated back as district judge. On January 16, 2019, the collegium headed by then CJI Ranjan Gogoi and comprising Justices A K Sikri and Bobde had recommended her appointment as an additional judge of the HC.
At the time of initial consideration of the Bombay HC collegium’s proposal to appoint her as additional judge, the consultee judges in the SC — Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud — had conveyed their objections.