{"id":64053,"date":"2026-01-12T18:28:34","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T12:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=64053"},"modified":"2026-01-14T12:04:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T06:34:53","slug":"romeo-juliet-clause-pocso","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/12-01-2026\/romeo-juliet-clause-pocso","title":{"rendered":"SC Urges Union Government to Introduce a \u201cRomeo-Juliet\u201d Clause in POCSO Act"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ Polity &amp; Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>In News\/Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Supreme Court of India has flagged the <strong>misuse of the POCSO Act<\/strong> in cases of <strong>consensual adolescent relationships<\/strong> and urged the Union Government to examine the feasibility of introducing a <strong>\u201cRomeo\u2013Juliet clause\u201d.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Core Issue Highlighted by the Court<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Criminalisation of Consensual Adolescence: <\/strong>Under current law, even if two individuals are in a consensual romantic relationship, the moment one is below 18 years (even by a day), stringent POCSO provisions apply.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Harmful Impact of Criminal Process:<\/strong> Adolescents are drawn into police investigation, arrest, trial and incarceration, causing long-term psychological and social damage.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Misuse and Weaponisation of POCSO: <\/strong>The Court noted that POCSO has been \u201cweaponised\u201d against young couples.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Common practices include misrepresentation of age to attract POCSO provisions and use of the law by families to punish or disrupt relationships they disapprove of (inter-caste, inter-faith, or non-conforming relationships).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is a Romeo\u2013Juliet Clause?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A legal exception, developed in the US and parts of Europe, named after Shakespeare\u2019s teenage lovers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It does not lower the age of consent, but shields adolescents close in age from criminal liability for consensual intimacy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It seeks to retain a robust child protection framework while recognising the realities of adolescence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Limitations of the Romeo\u2013Juliet Approach<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Any age-based exemption merely redraws the line, rather than resolving the core issue.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This clause raises difficult questions like if 16\u201318-year-olds are exempted, what about those just below 16 or on what principled basis does the same conduct become criminal again?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About the POCSO Act, 2012<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Purpose:<\/strong> Enacted to protect children (below 18 years) from sexual assault, sexual harassment, and pornography.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Gender-Neutral Law: <\/strong>Defines a child as any person below 18 years, irrespective of gender.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Applies to both male and female victims and offenders.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Categorisation of Offences:<\/strong> Covers penetrative and non-penetrative sexual assault, sexual harassment, and aggravated offences.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Prescribes stringent punishments, ranging from imprisonment to life sentence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Special Courts and Child-Friendly Procedures:<\/strong> Establishes Special Courts for speedy, in-camera trials.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ensures protection from hostile questioning, exposure to the accused, and provides for compensation and rehabilitation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/opinion\/columns\/a-romeo-juliet-clause-in-pocso-may-be-needed-10468733\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>IE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> In News\/Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> The Supreme Court of India has flagged the misuse of the POCSO Act in cases of consensual adolescent relationships and urged the Union Government to examine the feasibility of introducing a \u201cRomeo\u2013Juliet clause\u201d. <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> Core Issue Highlighted by the Court <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Criminalisation of Consensual Adolescence: Under current law, even if two individuals are in a consensual romantic relationship, the moment one is below 18 years (even by a day), stringent POCSO provisions apply. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Harmful Impact of Criminal Process: Adolescents are drawn into police investigation, arrest, trial and incarceration, causing long-term psychological and social damage. <\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/12-01-2026\/romeo-juliet-clause-pocso\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64053"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64164,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64053\/revisions\/64164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}