Love on trial: India's age of consent controversy
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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India has one of the toughest child sex abuse laws in the world, with strict definitions and mandatory minimum sentences. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, or POCSO, has been hailed as a major success, helping expose abuse, trafficking and child marriage. But lawyers and campaigners now warn the same law is criminalizing young couples, with boys in consensual relationships facing charges that can carry sentences of up to life in prison. I'm Rajbhanu Borua, and this is the documentary Love on Trial in the As Age of Consent Controversy from the BBC World Service.
How and why was the POCSO law created after the 2012 Delhi gang rape?
So roll back the clock to 2012, when a young 23-year-old woman in Delhi is attacked on a bus.
The assault took place on a moving bus.
It was so brutal that it galvanized people to take to the streets. She dies of her injuries and four young men are later executed for her gang rape and murder. Thousands defied orders to participate in these demonstrations. The case becomes news around the world. The country demands change.
What historical court cases and campaigns shaped reforms for child sexual offence laws in India?
And POXO, India's strict new sexual offense law, is born. But the push to reform had actually been gathering momentum for much longer. So it starts from, let's say, 70s, 80s, when there were feminist movements in different parts of India. Dr. Shailesh Kumar is an academic who specializes in the history of sexual offense law in India. Primarily around three significant cases. One was the Mathura case. Another was Ramiza B case. And there was a third one, which is the Maya Tyagi case. And one of these three cases, which is the Mathura case, which is where there was a minor girl, an agricultural laborer, who was raped by two policemen inside the police station. And when these cases went to the trial stage, the judicial approach to deal with the trial of these cases were very conservative and very adult-centric and assumptions which were against both women and children.
That led to the Law Commission of India bringing up reports and they recommended certain changes, both procedural and substantial changes to the law, to rape law primarily, related to women, indirectly related to children as well. Those recommendations were not followed by the parliament because an argument was that there is already existing law, including the Indian Penal Code as it then existed.
Which experts and drafters influenced POCSO and what did they recommend about age limits?
Change only comes when children are treated as a group in their own right. In that 2001 census, India had around 40% of its population as children. There was this concern on the part of the Ministry of Child and Women Development. So this Boxer Bill came in 2011. And for the next one and a half years, this was debated. And finally in 2012, this Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act was enacted. In the aftermath of the gang rape and murder of Nirbhaya in 2012, Parliament moved unusually fast. Here's former MP Dr. Fauzia Khan, who served in Maharashtra's Legislative Council and later in the Rajya Sabha.
We did see that there was a need for this act to come up because of the incidence of child abuse all around in the country. So a more stringent act came up at that time. It had a very large support all across political circles and even from civil society.
So behind the scenes, a group of experts came together to work up the initial legislation. We have been speaking to Vrinda Grover, a senior lawyer practicing in the Supreme Court of India, about writing those first drafts of the POXO bill.
So there were lawyers, there were academics, there were activists, there were psychologists, and each one of us brought to the table our expertise and experience. Prior to POXO, we did not have a law that was specific to sexual offences against children. So the whole idea was to both provide protection as well as to make the procedure much more sensitive for the child going through it.
But some of the key recommendations ran into resistance.
The age of consent was 16 years. It was when POXO was passed in 2012 that it was raised to 18 for all children.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:26
2
How and why was the POCSO law created after the 2012 Delhi gang rape?
1:26–1:59
3
What historical court cases and campaigns shaped reforms for child sexual offence laws in India?
1:59–3:18
4
Which experts and drafters influenced POCSO and what did they recommend about age limits?
3:18–5:30
5
What specific offences, duties and punishments does POCSO establish in practice?
5:30–9:37
6
How have POCSO case numbers changed and what share involve consensual teenage relationships?
9:37–14:10
7
How do frontline workers describe real cases where consenting teens are caught up in POCSO?
14:10–14:23
8
What are the legal and social consequences for boys and families when teenage relationships become POCSO cases?
14:23–28:57
Speakers
6 identified
Brijbhanu Barua 11 min
Multiple experts/interviewees (including Vrinda Grover, Vidya Reddy, Fiba/Feeba Nisha, Surabhi Shripuri, Surohisha Puri) — mapped as 'Various experts/interviewees (Unknown specific)' 8 min
Khushi Kushalappa 4 min
Elise Hulme 1 min
Dr. Sally LePage 1 min
One of the IIT Guwahati students