BETWEEN PROTECTION AND AUTONOMY: REASSESSING THE POCSO ACT, 2012

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act) was enacted to address the growing concern of sexual violence against children and to establish a comprehensive legal framework for their protection. More than a decade after its enactment, the legislation is widely regarded as one of the most stringent child-protection statutes in India. However, the effectiveness of a legal framework cannot be measured solely through the severity of its provisions. The true test lies in its ability to deliver justice while remaining responsive to the social realities it seeks to regulate. This paper argues that the contemporary challenge confronting the POCSO Act is not a lack of legal safeguards but the existence of a significant gap between legislative intent and practical implementation. While the Act has strengthened reporting mechanisms and expanded the recognition of sexual offences against children, several concerns continue to undermine its effectiveness. These include the criminalization of consensual adolescent relationships, the rigid operation of mandatory reporting provisions, procedural delays, low conviction rates, and the persistence of secondary victimization during criminal proceedings. The study adopts a doctrinal and analytical approach to examine statutory provisions, judicial developments, and emerging debates surrounding the Act. It contends that the increasing invocation of POCSO in cases involving consensual adolescent relationships has exposed a tension between child protection and adolescent autonomy. Simultaneously, the paper highlights how procedural shortcomings often transform the justice process into a source of further trauma for victims. The paper concludes that meaningful reform requires a shift from a purely punitive model towards a child-centered and rights-based framework. Such an approach would preserve the protective objectives of the Act while ensuring that justice remains sensitive to the complexities of contemporary social realities.