CJI D.Y. Chandrachud Raises Concern About POCSO Cases And Age Of Consent

POCSO Act 2012 aims at providing protection to children from sexual assault and harassment in India. However, the age of consent remains a major issue in the jurisdiction in such cases as 1 out of 4 cases under the act were romantic relations and had the consent of both parties.

At the conference for a two-day long national programme aiming at the implementation of the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 (POCSO) in India, Chief Justice Of India DY Chandrachud highlighted the concerns that hindered the effective implementation of the act. He raised the issue of cases that are actually romantic relations but are booked under the POCSO act and immensely affect the life of both, the survivor and the accused.

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The Issue Of Consent and The POCSO Act

A study by Enfold Proactive Health Trust and UNICEF-India noted that one out of four POCSO cases in Maharashtra, West Bengal and Assam were romantic cases which means that the survivor and accused were in a consensual romantic relationship. It was also highlighted that in around 46.6% of such romantic cases, the girl was between the age of 16 to 18. Such cases of criminalisation of adolescents that engaged in consensual sexual activity are the main reason why CJI Chandrachud urged the legislature to redefine the age of consent under POCSO.

CJI also said that people still prefer to remain silent when it comes to child abuse which is a major issue. Families should be encouraged to stand up against child abuse without any fear of family or society, whether the accused is an unknown person or a family member. He also talked about the criminal justice system and its way of functioning that sometimes increases a survivor's trauma and reportedly said, "The executive must therefore join hands with the judiciary to prevent this from happening".

Several organisations are pressing for a legal reform to decriminalise adolescent consensual sex in light of the implication on rights of adolescents. They are also hoping to draw recognition of adolescent sexuality as a normative developmental aspect and remove the stigma and misconceptions associated with teenage and adolescent relationships.

During the programme, Union Minister Smriti Irani also spoke about the resolution time of POCSO cases and said that on average, it took 509 days to dispose of a POCSO case and that there was a need to speed up the trial process to provide justice and compensation to the survivor.