oppn parties Pocso, Age Of Consent And Promise To Marry

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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
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Pocso, Age Of Consent And Promise To Marry

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2023-08-10 09:02:15

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

The age of consent and the provisions of Pocso Act were once again in focus as the Delhi HC, while granting bail to a 23-year-old youth in a Pocso case, stressed that the Act was enacted to protect kids and not to criminalize relationships between young consenting adults, even though one or both of whom had not attained the age of consent as prescribed by laws currently in place.

The instant case was about the relationship between the accused and a girl who was above 17 years of age at the time of the alleged offence but not 18, which is the age of consent in India. The two were in a relationship and the girl had become pregnant after being in a consensual romantic relationship with the accused. The court said that the physical relationship between the two appeared to be out of their own free will (but the question is whether a minor's consent is valid under Pocso) although the girl had alleged in the FIR that the accused had established physical relations with her on promise of marriage.

In this case, since the girl was a minor at the time the alleged offence was committed, the provisions of the Pocso Act will be applicable first. The charge of rape under Section 375 of the IPC for not marrying after having sexual intercourse, though promising to do so, will come later. Even in the second instance, since the girl was below marriageable age and had filed the FIR before she turned 18, the charge under Pocso will get primacy.

The age of consent has been a point of discussion in many court verdicts. The judiciary is veering around to the view that young adults who are below the age of consent should not be penalized for having sexual relationships. Hence, many court verdicts have sought not to penalize young adults between 16 and 18 under Pocso. There has also been a demand from many quarters to lower the age of consent to 16.

But in this case, although the accused has been granted bail (the court was of the opinion that since the relationship appeared to be consensual and the boy had already spent nearly two years in prison, it would harm him to keep him with hardened criminals), the question of reneging on the promise of marriage, as alleged by the victim, and prosecution under Section 375 of IPC, remains. 

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