Inside Taloja Prison: A Study https://www.outlookindia.com/national/inside-taloja-prison-a-study by Mahesh Raut, a TISS alumnus and rights activist working for Adivasis and marginalised communities, was arrested in June 2018 in the Bhima-Koregaon Maoist conspiracy case and has since been incarcerated in jail . The POCSO Act functions in a way that assumes girls as victims devoid of agency reinforcing patriarchal and feudal principles. This bias results in boys, even minors, being disproportionately criminalised, though the POCSO Act in theory is gender-neutral, and in perpetuating caste and social hierarchies...
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, in his seminal work Annihilation of Caste, highlights the role of endogamy in maintaining caste hierarchies. The POCSO Act, in practice, often serves as a tool for preserving these structures by punishing youthful love that defies the status-quo. This echoes in court observations. In Atul Mishra v. State of U.P. (2022), the Supreme Court stressed the need for a “bio-social approach” to understand adolescent relationships, recognising them as “impulsive, immature, but certainly not sinful or tainted”.
Despite its protective mandate, the POCSO Act’s application can reinforce regressive societal norms, disproportionately affecting the marginalised. Addressing these issues requires thoughtful policy revision and consideration of socio-economic and age-related contexts to assure a more nuanced understanding of adolescent relationships and to prevent such tragic situations.