The Delhi High Court has said that the intention of The Protection Of Children From Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was to protect the children from sexual abuse and not criminalize consensual romantic relationships of young adults.
The above statement came while declaring the judgment of a case where a 17 year old girl parent’s filed case against her 20 year boyfriend when they get married after the girl was forcefully made married to the choice of her parent. The court interacted with the woman in the chamber on October 20. She told the court she was married off to a person when she was a teenager but she did not want to stay with him. She further told the court that she got married to her friend, who is accused in the case registered on her father’s complaint, of her own will and without any coercion. She told the court she wants to stay with him even today.And this is not only case where pocso act is used for another purpose, there could be many. Irony is how parents are using the act made for protecting their children and not only this, they are using it to repress the desire of their child, as happened in the above case.Comment down your thoughts on this.
