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The POCSO Act was enacted in 2012 to formulate a robust framework that would protect all children from any kind of sexual exploitation. It is a gender-neutral act that recognizes all the violence and sexual activities that are forced upon female as well as male children.
However, the use of POCSO in recent judgments has been done for a completely different reason. In a country like India, it has become a tool for the girl’s parents to punish the boy for being in a relationship they didn’t allow. Through this article, it has been attempted to understand the frequent misuse that has been happening in the Court of Law.
Although the real motive of the POCSO Act was to prevent the increasing sexual exploitation of children, the loopholes present in the Act made it quite easy for the public to misuse. According to the Indian Penal Code, the age of consent used to be 16, but POCSO raised it to 18.
This signifies that the Act completely erases the concept of consent if one partner or even both of them are less than 18. The POCSO Act completely ignores the presence of consensual sexual acts among minors or between a minor and an adult.
This is where the issue lies. "Punishing an adolescent boy who enters into a relationship with a minor girl by treating him as an offender was never the objective of the POCSO Act."
The above-mentioned remark was made in the case of Vijaylakshmi & Anr. V. State & Anr to highlight the rampant misuse of the POCSO Act by families who merely want to punish the partners of their teenage daughters. Justice N. Anand Venkatesh pointed out the lack of amendments that should have been present to reflect the changing times of our society. The single-judge bench was dealing with a case where a 20-year-old male was accused of sexually assaulting and kidnapping a minor girl.
The boy was arrested by the police, but it was found that the boy and the girl were in a consensual relationship. In this case, there was no non-consensual harassment involved, but the families were unhappy with their relationship. This led to them filing a lawsuit against the boy under the POCSO Act. The main objective of this Act was to strictly punish all pedophiles, but it is now being used by parents to ruin the life of adolescent boys.
A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court of India that states -
"Punishing teenager having a consensual affair which later turns out to be sour for any reason cannot be considered as an objective of the Act and it would only defeat the objective of the Act. The Act is silent on the aspect where two individuals, though maybe less than 18 years, enters into a consensual relationship, and in the absence of this, certainly, the application of law in the Act cannot be permitted to charge and punish individuals in such relations keeping the fact of changing societal needs. Such consensual incidents certainly cannot be seen from the nature of such stringent provisions of the POCSO Act."
Thus, it can be seen that the Act that was enacted for safeguarding the children is acting as a means to traumatize and ruin them. It is essential for the laws to be consistent with the change in society. POCSO does not recognize the possibility of consensual sexual exploration among teenagers. It has completely failed to comprehend and acknowledge the nuances of child development.
It is true that the POCSO was a great initiative, and this Act was a much-needed shred of legislation. However, the loopholes present in the Act prevent it from achieving its true motive. Hence, our Government must take certain steps to revamp the Act with respect to some specific technicalities. That will help this pious Act in attaining its true objective.
For a more detailed understanding, refer to the" Vijaylakshmi & Anr. V. State & Anr" case study by clicking the case below.