In West Bengal, Assam, And Maharashtra, 25% Of POCSO Cases Involve Romantic Relationships.
According to a study by the Enfold Proactive Health Trust and UNICEF-India, one in every four cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in West Bengal, Assam, and Maharashtra are romantic instances.
The survey also reveals that 46.6% of these romantic occurrences involve girls between the ages of 16 and 18. These results are consistent with CJI D Y Chandrachud’s appeal to legislators to address the growing concern about criminalizing minors who participate in consensual sexual behavior.
The study’s authors, Swagata Raha and Shruti Ramakrishnan examined 7,064 POCSO decisions from 2016 to 2020 in the three states and discovered court records in 1,715 cases that indicated the complainant and the accused had a consensual relationship. The report, which was published on December 10, also revealed that in 1,508 instances, or 87.9% of the romantic cases, the girl admitted to having a romantic relationship with the defendant during the course of the investigation, the gathering of evidence, or both.
According to the research, girls have occasionally been forced to return home after eloping or prevented from starting relationships against the wishes of their families by using the criminal justice system as a threat. It goes on to say that the POCSO accusations also serve to persuade the defendant to keep his word to get married.
The study also discovered that in romantic cases, acquittals predominated and convictions were only recorded in unusual circumstances. This demonstrates that the courts are indulgent in these situations despite the fact that the law does not recognize consenting sexual behavior for adolescents under the age of 18.
CJI Chandrachud asked the legislature to take action in response to the growing concern on the matter while speaking at the National Annual Stakeholders Consultation on Child Protection.
News Mania Desk
