Madras HC Suggests To Exclude Consensual Sex With Girl Aged Above sixteen From Rigours Of POCSO Act [Read Judgment]

“More liberal provision can be delivered within the Act itself on the way to distinguish the cases of adolescent courting after sixteen years, from the instances of sexual attack on youngsters under 16 years.”
The Madras High Court has suggested to redefine the definition of ‘Child’ underneath Section 2(d) of the POCSO Act as a person beneath 16 years of age as opposed to 18 years so that any consensual intercourse after the age of sixteen or physical contact or allied acts can be excluded from the rigorous provisions of the POCSO Act.
Justice V. Parthiban made this commentary even as acquitting a boy who changed into convicted under the POCSO Act by the Sessions (Fast Track Mahila) Judge/Children Court.
The Judge took the word of a record that the majority of cases involving minor girls are because of courting between adolescent boys and girls. Though beneath Section 2(d) of the Act, ‘Child’ is defined as someone under the age of 18 years and in case of any love affair among a woman and a boy, wherein the female happened to be 16 or 17 years antique, either in the college final or entering the college, the connection continually assumes the penal man or woman via subjecting the boy to the rigours of POCSO Act, the court said. The decision further found:
“When a woman under 18 years is involved in a dating relationship with a teenager or age boy or little over the age, it’s usually a question mark as to how such courting could be defined, though such courting will be the result of mutual innocence and biological attraction. Such a relationship cannot be construed as an unnatural one or alien to between courting of the contrary sexes. But in such cases wherein the age of the girl is underneath 18 years, even though she turned into capable of giving consent for courting, being mentally matured, sadly, the provisions of the POCSO Act get attracted if such relationship transcends past platonic limits, attracting strong arm of law-sanctioned via the provisions of POCSO Act, catching up with the so known as culprit of sexual attack, warranting an excessive imprisonment of seven/10 years.”
The courtroom stated that more liberal provisions can be brought within the Act itself for you to distinguish the cases of young age dating after 16 years, from the instances of sexual attack on youngsters under 16 years.
“The Act can be amended to the impact that the age of the perpetrator ought not to be more than 5 years or so than the consensual sufferer woman of sixteen years or older. So that the impressionable age of the victim lady can’t be taken advantage of through someone who’s a great deal older and crossed the age of presumable infatuation or innocence.”
The Judge in addition stated that greater than treating such developing incidence of sexual attack on girls and kids as a criminal trouble dealing with the offenders of sexual attack by way of resorting to maximum deterrent provisions of Penal laws, the purpose for such perverse and wicked behaviour among a few men, who have been in any other case regular in their disposition, need to be examined and studied.
“The Society must together introspect what it is that drives a few men to unleash their libidinous rage on hapless youngsters and girls of all ages. The purpose of such abominable deviant conduct on the part of the perpetrators of sexual crime against youngsters and ladies is perhaps becoming of getting right of entry to uncensored pornographic and erotic substances which might be available on the net 24/7. Access to such provocative and lewd websites causes crooked sensuality that drives the perpetrators to commit such appalling crimes against kids and ladies, in whole depravity. When minds are packed with lust, smoldering all of the time using watching pornographic websites of all kinds on handsets or in any other case, such crimes are the natural result of depraved minds.”
The committee additionally cautioned constituting a high-level committee comprising people of eminence from various walks of life, like a Social auditors, psychologists, Social scientists, and so forth, to analyze and take a look at the malady afflicting Society.