Former Bombay High Court Additional Judge Pushpa Ganediwala files petition for pension

Nagpur (IANS). Former Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench) Justice Pushpa Ganediwala has moved the court seeking pension as applicable to a judge.

Justice Ganediwala, who came under the scanner after her ‘skin to skin’ verdict in a rape case, was forced to resign after she was denied promotion as a permanent judge last year.

He has challenged the communication dated November 2, 2022, of the Registrar of the High Court (original side) that he is ineligible for pension and other benefits of a judge.

Ganediwala, in her petition filed this fortnight, has argued that whether she retired voluntarily or after attaining retirement, she is entitled to pension and other benefits.

His petition has named the Bombay HC through the Registrar-General, the Union Ministry of Law and Justice, the Secretary of the Maharashtra Law and Judiciary Department and others as respondents.

After practicing as an advocate for seven years, Ganediwala was appointed as a district judge in 2007. Later he served as Joint Director of Maharashtra Judicial Academy, Chief Justice in City Civil and Sessions Court and HC Registrar. He was appointed as Additional Judge on 13 February 2019 for two years.

His three decisions had created a ruckus. In one he quashed the rape conviction saying there was nothing to support the prosecution’s case. In another, he had said that holding the hand of the minor at that time or the zipper of the accused’s pant being open at that time does not amount to sexual harassment. In the third, he ruled that pressing a 12-year-old girl’s breast without removing her top does not amount to sexual assault. All three judgments were pronounced within a week in January 2021.

The last of these – in which he had argued that the offense of sexual assault under the POCSO Act would be considered only if there was direct ‘skin-to-skin’ contact – had been the subject of much controversy and public outcry.

The uproar led to the Supreme Court in January 2021 canceling its recommendation to make him a permanent judge and in November 2021 quashing his decision. Eventually he resigned on 11 February 2022.

In his petition seeking pension and other benefits, filed through a lawyer on July 19, Ganediwala said he had worked as an additional judge for about three years and as a district judge for more than 11 years.