POCSO Act Needs To Be Amended To Allow Consensual, Non-Exploitative Relationship Between Older Adolescents: NCP MP Vandana Chavan to Government – OKEEDA

New Delhi, Dec 21: NCP member Vandana Chavan on Wednesday urged the federal government to amend the Safety of Kids from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act to revise the age of consent and forestall the criminalisation of consensual and non-exploitative relationships between older adolescents.

Elevating the problem in Rajya Sabha throughout particular point out, she mentioned the enactment of the POCSO Act in 2012 was undoubtedly a “watershed moment” within the historical past of kid rights in India, but it surely additionally has its shortcomings. Demand for Excessive-Talent Expertise Throughout Roles on Contract Grows by 105% in Final 12 Months: Report.

Part 2(d) of the POCSO Act defines a toddler as a person beneath the age of 18. This has led to the struggling of many younger {couples} between the ages 16 to 18, who’re in consensual and non-exploitative relations, Chavan mentioned.

“Because the consent of the child is immaterial, a genuine romantic relation which has mutual consent from both sides can get embroiled in the criminal justice system,” she mentioned.

A number of excessive courts of the nation have recognised the normalcy of those relationships and identified that the act was meant to defend minors from sexual abuse and never to criminalise consensual romantic relationships amongst adolescents, she added.

“There have been several incidences of misuse of the POCSO Act, especially by parents who want to punish the children from attempting to exercise autonomy in who they want to marry. Many a time the couple elopes fearing opposition from parents resulting in a situation where families file a case with the police, who then book the boy for rape under POCSO Act,” she added.

“Hence there is an urgent need to reform the law to revise the age of consent and prevent the criminalisation of older adolescents in consensual and non-exploitative acts,” she added. Jharkhand Shocker: Furore Over Headmaster Forcing College students To Take away ‘Dupatta’ in Daltonganj Faculty; Arrested Below POCSO Act.

Throughout the particular point out, members raised a number of different points.

Whereas Sashmit Patra of the BJD demanded particular class standing for Odisha because it faces frequent pure catastrophe, Jawhar Sircar of the TMC drew consideration over the decline within the variety of farmers to obtain the Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi.

“According to the Ministry of Agriculture’s response to an RTI query, the 11th installment of the funds has fallen by as much as 67 per cent,” he mentioned.

There’s a sharp drop from 11.84 crore farmers, who obtained the primary instalment in February 2019 to simply 3.87 crore farmers who obtained the eleventh instalment of Rs 2,000 in June 2022, and requested the agriculture minister to look at and find the rationale.

Brij Lal from the BJP raised the problem of medical training in India and mentioned at the moment 96,077 seats can be found on the undergraduate stage, during which 51,712 are at authorities establishments and the remainder are with personal universities.

Equally, 49,790 seats can be found for PG college students, out of which 33,384 are in authorities establishments and the remainder are in personal schools.

“Last year in the UG examination 16.64 lakh appeared in the exam to compete for 96,077 seats and 2.63 lakh appeared for PG exams,” he mentioned, including “in PG more than 1.50 lakh students either keep on repeating (to get better stream) or end up with MBBS.” The scenario is extreme for the ladies with MBBS levels as they’re neither “gainfully employed nor paid respectable remuneration”.

He urged the federal government to introduce the School of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS) and FCPS (fellowship) programs at schools with all india acceptability.

“This will go a long way especially helping the MBBS girls students and settling down in life by 30 years of age,” he added.

Dola Sen of the TMC raised the problem of jute farmers of Bengal. The federal government procured uncooked jute from farmers at an MSP of Rs 4,750 per quintal in 2022-23 but it surely reaches mills at Rs 7,200 per quintal. She urged the central authorities not to dilute the availability of the Obligatory Jute Packaging Act 2010 and management the worth fluctuations within the jute market and encourage the jute trade.

Nominated member Ram Sakal urged the federal government to double the railway line between Chopan to Chunar in Uttar Pradesh. He mentioned this may also present the tribal-dominated areas of Jharkhand with higher connectivity and in addition assist in ferrying coal and different minerals from the area. S Selvaganapathy of the BJP requested the Delivery Ministry to forestall sea erosion in Puducherry and the adjoining areas of Tamil Nadu.

Ajit Kumar Bhuyan requested Geographical Indications (GI) tag for Assam CTC tea like Orthodox Assam tea. The GI tag would guarantee the standard of Assam CTC tea and assist to appeal to a greater worth. S Phangnon Konyak of the BJP requested the railway’s minister to equip lengthy-distance trains with ambulance amenities. Air ambulance is the one possibility for a lot-flung space and has limitations for frequent folks, he mentioned. Ghanshyam Tiwari, Kirodi Lal Meena, Jugalsinh Lokhandwala, Darshana Singh, Okay Laxman, GVL Narasimha Rao of BJP, Kanimozhi NVN Somu of DMK, Okay Vanlalvena of MNF, Ramji of BSP, Mahua Maaji of JMM and Ramnath Thakur of JD (U) additionally spoke through the particular mentioning.

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