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The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO) was enacted in the
light of growing cases related to child sexual abuse and exploitation. However, the legislation
didn’t always function the way its drafters imagined. After more than a decade into its
enforcement, the statute revealed many troubling paradoxes due to its rigid frameworks,
which was often struggled by the court to be ignore. The main problem lies in the question
that how the act handles adolescent consensual relationships. The act works on strict liability
principle, leaving no room for consent of below the age of eighteen years. In practice, this
means consensual relationship with person even slightly below the age of eighteen could land
him/her in prison. Even the families not behind to use the statute as a tool of exploitation.
NCRB data and judicial pronouncements from Supreme Court and various High Courts have
recognise the growing pattern of using the POCSO Act, not to report genuine exploitation but
to punish adolescent relationships that cross caste, communities and religious boundaries.
The paper examines this paradox and issue through various judicial pronouncements, legal
statistics and comparative legal frameworks, and aims to focus upon the sexual autonomy of
adolescents. It argues for the introduction of a close-in-age exception, which in the recent
trend, was itself flagged by the honourable Supreme court in recent proceedings of 2026,
which aims to protect consensual teenage intimacy while prosecuting the genuine abuse.
Keywords:
POCSO, Age of Consent, Adolescent, Sexual Autonomy, Familial Misuse, Romeo Juliet Clause
Cite Article:
"Criminalising Consent: A Research for Reforming POCSO's Age Threshold", International Journal for Research Trends and Innovation (www.ijrti.org), ISSN:2456-3315, Vol.11, Issue 4, page no.b743-b750, April-2026, Available :http://www.ijrti.org/papers/IJRTI2604240.pdf
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ISSN:
2456-3315 | IMPACT FACTOR: 8.14 Calculated By Google Scholar| ESTD YEAR: 2016
An International Scholarly Open Access Journal, Peer-Reviewed, Refereed Journal Impact Factor 8.14 Calculate by Google Scholar and Semantic Scholar | AI-Powered Research Tool, Multidisciplinary, Monthly, Multilanguage Journal Indexing in All Major Database & Metadata, Citation Generator