POCSO Act not meant to penalise adolescents or teens in romantic relationships: Madras HC

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act does not intend to punish an adolescent boy for entering into a relationship with a minor girl, Madras High Court said recently. Batting for parental and societal support for the couple "in the grips of biological changes", Justice N Anand Venkatesh observed that while the Act was brought in to protect children from sexual offences, a large array of cases have been arising on the basis of complaints being filed by the families of adolescents and teenagers involved in romantic relationships. 

Therefore, the "legislature has to keep pace with changing societal needs" and bring amendments to the Act, he said while quashing criminal proceedings against an autorickshaw driver facing charges under the POCSO Act for marrying a minor.

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Madras High Court on POSCO Act

The judge said, "The scheme of the Act clearly shows that it did not intend to bring within its scope or ambit, cases of nature where adolescents or teenagers involved in romantic relationships are concerned."

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While observing that the provisions of the POSCO Act, as it stands today, would surely make the acts of the boy an offence due to its stringent nature, Anand Venkatesh said that punishing an adolescent boy who entered into a relationship with a minor girl by treating him as an offender was never the objective of the POSCO Act. He said, "An adolescent boy and girl who are in the grips of their hormones and biological changes and whose decision-making ability is yet to fully develop should essentially receive the support and guidance of their parents and the society at large."

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Madras HC said that an adolescent boy caught in a situation like this will surely have no defence if the criminal case is taken to its logical end. Referring to the victim girl's earlier statement, the judge said that she "has clearly stated that she was the one who insisted that the second respondent take her away from her home and marry her due to the pressure exerted by her parents." With the parents of the girl or the family subsequently lodging a complaint, the accused has been booked under the POCSO Act, he added. 

"It is high time that the legislature takes into consideration cases of this nature involving adolescents involved in relationships and swiftly bring in necessary amendments under the Act. The legislature has to keep pace with the changing societal needs and bring about necessary changes in law and more particularly, in a stringent law like the POCSO Act," said the judge.

Anand Venkatesh remarked that what came to be a law to protect and render justice to victims and survivors of a child abused, can become a tool in the hands of certain sections of the society to abuse the process of the law. 

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(With PTI inputs)