Rashtra Jyoti@RashtraJyoti
IMPORTANT
A Dangerous Judicial Precedent Has Been Set
District Court Chandigarh Has Given Clean Chit to an Accused in POCSO Case Despite Medical Tests Showing Girl Was 15
The judgement places all girls after Class 6 at direct risk, rendering the parents’ role in protecting minors meaningless.
🗞️WHAT HAPPENED
The district court in Chandigarh has acquitted a man charged with kidnapping and repeatedly raping a minor girl, even though:
• The father reported her missing in 2023 at age 15.
• Medical tests done after her 'consensual marriage and sex' with him placed her bone age at 15-16 and dental age at 14-16.
• Police filed charges under IPC 363, 376(2)(n) and POCSO Sections 4 & 6.
Instead of treating the minor as a minor, the judge added a +2-year “margin of error” to the age tests and declared she was over 18, allowing the accused to walk free.
The court also cited photos where the minor “looked happy” with the man to justify his acquittal and the marriage.
📢WHY THIS IS A NATIONAL CONCERN
• This judgement dismantles the core purpose of POCSO. A 15-year-old has been reclassified as an adult. A judiciary already struggling with understanding grooming has made Class 9 girls sexually accessible to adult predators.
• If age of consent is lowered to 16 by Supreme Court - where the matter is currently pending and which @RashtraJyoti founders have legally challenged - this judgement becomes a ready-made weapon for paedophiles.
Tomorrow, a girl who medically tests as 13–14 years old could be declared “above 16” after applying the same +2-year margin, and therefore treated as sexually available through so-called consent.
In short, all girls after Class 6 are placed at direct risk.
In our intervention petitions, we warned policymakers of exactly this risk.
WHY THIS JUDGEMENT IS SCIENTIFICALLY UNSOUND
a. Minors cannot give informed sexual consent.
Neuroscience shows:
• Prefrontal cortex (decision-making) matures in early 20s.
• Adolescents overestimate trust and underestimate risk - the exact vulnerability exploited in grooming.
b. Underage sex and pregnancy cause permanent harm.
Medical evidence shows:
• Higher rates of PTSD, anxiety, depression in underage mothers
• Lower IQ of children born to underage mothers
c. Age-determination tests already favour adults.
They are intentionally generous to the accused to prevent wrongful conviction.
But courts must not stretch these margins to erase childhood itself.
The Chandigarh ruling rejects science, child psychology and the intention of POCSO.
RASHTRA JYOTI’S STAND
• National policy must discourage courts from using +2-year margins to convert vulnerable minors, especially girls, into adults.
• Any attempt to lower age of consent to 16 must be fought with full strength. If courts begin stretching age tests upward while lawmakers push age of consent downward, predators gain unprecedented legal cover to target minors.
• As a nation we must stand firmly with scientific research and developmental psychology instead of social narratives regarding romance, love and sexual desire designed to push early sexual activities.
Minors are already being groomed at scale through audio-video entertainment. From OTT content normalising sexual relationships among teens, to music videos and social media reels sexualising minors, today’s media ecosystem is actively lowering children’s defences.
WHAT MUST BE DONE NOW
We @rashtrajyoti are at the forefront of a nationwide fight to stop lowering of age of consent.
We are working to push for immediate judicial review in this judgement.
