The Supreme Court rules that the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act applies when a minor is trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. A bench led by Justices J. B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan holds that a person’s awareness that they are being employed in the sex industry or prostitution does not by itself exclude them from being a trafficking victim, because they may have been deceived about the nature and conditions of the work that later turn exploitative.
The court clarifies that in trafficking cases involving children, the consent of the child victim is irrelevant. It also states that consent by an adult is not determinative if any of the legally recognized “means” of trafficking—such as threat, force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power, abuse of a position of vulnerability, or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to obtain consent—are present.
The ruling comes with directions intended to address concerns relating to sex workers, while also clarifying the prosecution framework for perpetrators and the rehabilitation of victims. The court also indicates that charges can include POCSO along with relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.
