Enfold study reveals impact of POCSO Act on adolescent romantic relationships

The Enfold Proactive Health Trust’s 18-month study brings to focus the implications of the POCSO Act on adolescent sexuality. The study has found that over 1,000 girls have left their homes in fear of the repercussions of the POCSO Act.

The study, authored by Swagata Raha, Director, Research and Shruthi Ramakrishnan, Senior legal researcher, was conducted in Assam, Maharashtra and West Bengal and involved studying 7,478 special court judgments between 2016 to 2020, out of which, 7,064 cases came under POCSO Act and 1,715 were identified as romantic cases. Romantic cases are those in which the victim admits to a relationship with the accused.

The study examined how criminalisation affects the right to life and liberty of adolescents and overburdens the justice system. Moreover, it proves to be a barrier for adolescents to access sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services leading to illegal and unsafe abortions. “A 16-year-old girl died in Banswara, Rajasthan after consuming abortion pills provided by an Ayurvedic practitioner. Her 20-year-old partner was arrested and charged under the POCSO Act and under Section 314 of the IPC,” the study said.

Of the 1,715 identified romantic cases that were looked at as a part of the study, 87.9 per cent of the people admitted a romantic relationship with the accused while 12.1 per cent denied it. As much as 81.5 per cent of the victims did not testify against the accused, 17.2 per cent testified against the accused and 1.3 per cent did not appear in court. Around 93.8 per cent of the cases ended in acquittal and 6.2 per cent ended in conviction. In 2021, 92.6 per cent of the POCSO cases were unresolved, the study has reported.

Raha, one of the authors of the study, pointed out, “In Tamil Nadu, no arrests are made and the boy is not apprehended (in cases of romantic relations among adolescents), a similar policy should be implemented in Karnataka and other states.”

The study emphasised on the age of consent reduction stating, “Several western countries, South Asian countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bhutan have also set their age of consent at 16 years. It must be considered that the age of consent was 16 years from 1940 to November 2012, till the POCSO Act came into force.”

Significant numbers of adolescents in India are sexually active, however, the approach adopted under the POCSO Act renders adolescents vulnerable to criminal prosecutions for normative sexual behaviour. Notably, despite the Justice Verma Committee’s recommendation in 2013, to reduce the age of consent to 16 years, the age of consent was increased to 18 years.

In 2016, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) recognised that adolescence is a distinct developmental stage, and urged states to ensure that “approaches adopted to ensure the realization of the rights of adolescents differ significantly from those adopted for younger children.” It also cautioned that “generic policies designed for children or young people often fail to address adolescents in all their diversity and are inadequate to guarantee the realization of their rights.”