A 10-month-old baby being raised without a father, a couple who spent a year in hiding, and a young man trying to piece his life together after five-and-a-half years in prison — these are just some of the ways one law has scarred multiple lives.
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (
Pocso
) Act, 2012 was enacted to protect children under 18 from sexual assault, harassment and pornography. But it has also criminalised teenage relationships by mandating any sexual act between two minors — even when consensual — as a crime, with a minimum of 10 years of imprisonment for the offender.
