Mumbai: The Bombay High Court, while giving bail to a 23-year-old man charged with raping a juvenile, ruled that the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was not intended to penalise adolescents in a consensual relationship and to label them as criminals.
It is true that the victim in this case was a minor, but her statement prima facie implies that the relationship was voluntary, as observed in the judgement passed on April 26 by a single bench of Justice Anuja Prabhudessai.