The court says that we need to be more careful about how we handle love relationships since prosecuting consensual relationships as sexual offenses can inflict a lot of trauma.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court of India stressed how important it is to carefully separate real romantic relationships from sexual exploitation crimes, especially when the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act cases involve people who are close to the age of majority.
The Justices B. V. Nagarathna and R. Mahadevan made these comments while hearing a petition that asked if the age of consent under the POCSO Act could be lowered from 18 to 16. The judges acknowledged the reality of co-education and the development of feelings between young people, stating, “Now, they develop feelings for each other. Can you say that loving someone is a crime? We need to make a clear difference between this and a crime like rape.
The bench stressed the “harsh reality” that parents of a girl who runs away with a boy can file a case under the POCSO Act to escape social disgrace. This can send the boy to jail and cause a lot of trauma for both of them. The court noted that police must be vigilant to determine if a case involves genuine love rather than kidnapping, trafficking, or other criminal acts.
In a different but similar instance, the Central government has strongly supported the current age of consent, saying that lowering it or making exceptions for “teen romance” would be legally wrong and risky. The government’s written arguments to the highest court said that the age of 18 is a “deliberate, well-considered, and coherent” policy choice meant to safeguard adolescents from sexual exploitation. They also said that weakening it may “open the floodgates” to abuse.
The Supreme Court will hear the case again on August 26, once the petitioner’s senior lawyer, H. S. Phoolka, sends in more directions from the top court on this issue. The continuous discussion shows how hard it is to find a balance between protecting kids from sexual assault and the fact that older teens can have consensual relationships.