The Issue with Criminalizing All Adolescent Relationships

• Swagata Raha, a child protection researcher, calls for a revisitation of the POCSO Act’s assumption that all sexual acts involving adolescents are exploitative.

• The Supreme Court of India’s sentencing judgment in Re: Right to Privacy of Adolescents (May 2025) highlighted the need to prioritize the voice of the young person most impacted by the criminal case.

• The case involved a 14-year-old girl from rural West Bengal who left her home to be with a 25-year-old man due to stigma, humiliation, and surveillance.

• The girl was arrested and tried for kidnapping, rape, aggravated penetrative sexual assault, and child marriage.

• The Supreme Court restored the accused’s conviction in December 2023, rejecting the concepts of “non-exploitative” sexual acts with a minor aged 14 years and the category of “older adolescents”.

• The Court directed the state to appoint an expert committee to ascertain whether the “victim” wanted to continue living with the accused or preferred to accept benefits offered by the State Government.

• Empirical studies show that adolescent relationships, especially above 16 years, are a common reality.

• The Supreme Court acknowledged the failure of the societal and legal system, citing community humiliation, family abandonment, paternalistic judicial language, absent child protection systems, corrupt legal practices, and sensationalist media coverage