EVOLUTION AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF POCSO AND CONSENT LAW IN INDIA
EVOLUTION AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF POCSO AND CONSENT LAW IN INDIA Vaibhavi Pandey, 10th Semester, Student at Amity Law School, Amity University, Noida (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.167 The evolution of child protection laws in India reflects a gradual shift from a fragmented criminal law approach to a specialised statutory framework designed to safeguard children from sexual offences. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act) constitutes a significant legislative development in this regard, as it establishes comprehensive substantive and procedural protections and adopts a strict liability model under which the consent of any person below eighteen years of age is legally irrelevant. This research examines the legal framework of the POCSO Act and analyses its interaction with the law relating to consent under Indian criminal law. The study is doctrinal and analytical in nature and is based on an examination of statutory provisions, judicial decisions of the Supreme Court and various High Courts, Law Commission Reports, and relevant academic literature. The paper finds that although the POCSO Act has substantially strengthened child protection, its rigid age-based framework has also led to the criminalisation of consensual adolescent relationships, commonly described as the “Romeo and Juliet” problem. The absence of a close-in-age exemption fails to distinguish exploitative conduct from voluntary relationships between adolescents and may result in disproportionate penal consequences. The paper recommends the introduction of a statutory proximity-of-age exception, along with judicial guidelines, counselling mechanisms, and awareness programmes to ensure that the law continues to protect children while respecting adolescent autonomy and the realities of teenage relationships.
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