Plea challenges sections 19, 21, 22 of POCSO Act; Delhi HC seeks Centre's response

New Delhi [India], February 21 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought responses of the Central Government on a plea seeking declaration as ultra vires the impugned Sections 19, 21 and 22 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 allegedly being against Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
According to the plea, the impugned Sections are bad in law as they deprive under 18 sexual assault survivors and other minors involved in consensual sex the right to give informed consent for not reporting, take away 'agency' over their bodies and decisional capacities, infringe upon fundamental rights to protection of life and liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution and violate their right to privacy by getting mandatorily reported when seeking treatment despite informed consent for refusal to report.
It further stated that the law is well settled that neither law, nor police nor any court can force a sexual assault survivor to report an offence by filing an FIR and no police or court can force any minor in consensual sex to report her sexual activity. Thus, the Impugned Sections requiring mandatory reporting are untenable, arbitrary and unconstitutional and deserve to be set aside.
The bench of Justice Satish Chander Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad on Monday issued notice to the Ministry of Law and Justice and others and sought their response in this regards and listed the matter for July 17, 2023.
Plea stated that the Impugned Sections 19, 21 and 22 of POCSO are arbitrary, have been enacted without application of legislative mind and deprive under 18 minors of their lawful agency and rights over their bodies and their own decisional capacities to make informed choices about their sexuality and sexual expression as also their competence to give informed consent whether or not to report to the police even in cases of sexual assault against them.
POCSO is to protect minors from rapacious sexual offences and sexual violence by predators, paedophiles and criminals and does not aim to criminalize consensual sex. Even in sexual offences, survivors have the agency to give informed consent for not reporting. With fast-changing society norms, 16 to 18-year-olds (and even 14 and 15-year-olds) are exploring their sexuality through bold physical experimentation. Embroiling them in criminal cases is a testimony of complete disconnect with reality, plea read.
Mandatory reporting under the Impugned Sections discourages minors and grown-up women from seeking prenatal, reproductive and sexual healthcare. In mandatory reporting, there is also a proclivity for exploitation and extortion even in the organized systems of healthcare, stated the plea.
Petitioner Harsh Vibhore Singhal, the practising lawyer sought direction to respondents to redraft the Impugned Sections 19, 21 and 22 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 and specifically remove the objectionable and arbitrary provisions relating to the mandatory reporting 'by any person' (including the child) of sexual offences and hence, remove the related provisions of punishment and relief under POCSO law for failure to report or for making false reports or providing false information in good faith. (ANI)