When the Law Has to Decide on Teen Spirit

Some provisions of the Pocso Act may seem unmindful of lived adolescent realities. A recent Supreme Court judgment highlighted the need to rethink this delicate issue

- KALEESWARAM RAJ

Judges do not have an easy job. They repeatedly do what the rest of us seek to avoid: make decisions," wrote British lawyer David Pannick. At times, judges who try cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act involving consensual sex between adolescents find it difficult to choose between the law and reality. Recently, in a case titled In re: Right to privacy of adolescents, the Supreme Court was confronted with such a dilemma.

The case was from West Bengal. A 14-year-old girl had left her parental home to live with a 26-year-old man. They got married and a child was born. The man was found guilty of offences under the Pocso Act and the erstwhile Indian Penal Code. The trial court sentenced him to long-term imprisonment. The high court set aside the judgment in view of the relation between the victim and the accused, taking note of the subsequent turn of events. The Supreme Court initially reversed the high court's judgment. But instead of punishing the man, thought it fit to make a deeper enquiry into the case's realities—it sought a report from an expert committee. The committee's final report was unconventional.

Relying on the final report about the plight of the victim, the court said that though "initially, passion and intimacy may have taken centre-stage", later "without any coercion from her husband, the victim is deeply committed to him". The court noted that the victim's struggle has been for rescuing her husband from the impending punishment. The court found that "she is ably looking after her responsibilities as a wife and mother". It also noted that the victim had to find lakhs of rupees for saving her husband from the clutches of law. She was bringing up the child while defending her husband when the state of West Bengal had adopted an insensitive position.