Vol 4 No 2 | July-Sept 2024

Cupid’s Crime

Story by Arun Ferreira | Art by Rajiv Eipe

 

The POCSO Act

This story is based on the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act. It was enacted in 2012 with the laudable objective of protecting children from offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography. Among other things, the Act defines certain sexual offences against children and sets up a system for trial, including Special Courts and safeguards for child witnesses. The following videos highlight situations and offences that are covered by the POCSO Act:

 

Unintended consequences of the Act
Prior to POCSO, the age of sexual consent was 16 years. Now with the 2012 enactment, it has been increased to eighteen years. This means that adolescents who are in a romantic and consensual sexual relationship have suddenly become criminals worthy of harsh punishments in the eyes of law. This story of Pushpa and Siddharth is a fictionalised account of one such case. A study supported by UNICEF concluded that almost one-fourth (24.3%) of matters entering the Special POCSO Courts constituted such ‘romantic’ cases. This study, which was an analysis of judgements of Special Courts in Assam, Maharashtra and West Bengal, can be accessed at:
https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/documents/1951/Romantic-cases-under-the-POCSO-Act

In many such cases wherein the young man had to spend years in prison, it was either because the relationship was inter-religious or inter-caste. In cases where both partners were from the same community, there would be some sort of ‘settlement’ between the two families, ensuring the boy gets bail without much delay or the girl deposes in favour of the accused. At the end of trial, most such cases result in the acquittal of the accused while some end in conviction, mainly because the girl’s consent was irrelevant.

 

Judiciary in a bind
As in Pushpa-Siddharth’s story, the judiciary is groping in the dark to find ways to respond to this legal conundrum. Special Courts have many a time acquitted the accused despite initially denying bail. Faced with no other option, they have even convicted a few. The higher judiciary including the Supreme Court has often called for lowering the existing age of consent. Internationally some countries have adopted what’s called ‘the Romeo-Juliet law’. If enacted in India, it could protect the boy from arrest if the age difference between the couple is not more than four years. Here is something on the Romeo-Juliet Law:
https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2023/08/19/what-is-romeo-juliet-law-explained-supreme-court-centre-response-decriminalise-teen-sex.

 

The Romeo & Juliet Law, as explained in Transformers Age of Extinction (remember: it’s not yet enacted in India):

 

For further and in-depth reading evaluating the use of POCSO Act in the past decade, here is a detailed report:
https://vidhilegalpolicy.in/research/a-decade-of-pocso-developments-challenges-and-insights-from-judicial-data/