Why Supreme Court Stayed Bombay High Court Order which held that Groping without ‘Skin-to-Skin’ Contact is Not a Sexual Assault? Amaresh Patel LANDMARK JUDGMENT Wed, Jan 27, 2021, at ,05:35 PM The Supreme Court, on 27th January, 2021, stayed a controversial judgment of Bombay High Court in Satish vs. The State of Maharashtra, Crl.A. No. 161 of 2020 which held that the act of pressing of breast of the child aged 12 years, in the absence of any specific details as to whether the top was removed or whether he inserted his hand inside the top and pressed her breast, would not fall in the definition of ‘sexual assault’ under Section 8 of the POCSO Act. Rather, the Bombay High Court suggested that the act of pressing breast can be a criminal force to a woman/girl with the intention to outrage her modesty under Section 354 of IPC. It shall be noted that the punishment for sexual assault under Section 8 of the POCSO Act is imprisonment of 3-5 years while the punishment under Section 354 of IPC is just 1-3 Years.The three-judge bench of Supreme Court comprising of CJI S.A. Bobde, and Justice A.S. Bopanna, Justice V. Ramasubramanian based its judgment on the reason that such precedent which establishes ‘skin-to-skin’ contact is necessary for sexual assault under POCSO Act is ‘unprecedented’ and ‘likely to set a dangerous precedent’.