Teenage Pregnancy- Sexually Violated or Sexually Active: Medico Legal Dilemmas of POCSO Act 2012 and other Related Acts

POSCO Act 2012 and Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013 mandates reporting of all child sexual offenseswith provisions of stringent punishment for offenseas well as non-reporting. However, many other acts related to Child MarriageRestraint Act, MTP Act etc. have provisions under which there are exceptions to accept child marriagesunder some categories. Resultantly, there are numerous judgements from Hon’ble Courts, some accepting the child marriagesand others strongly refuting it. There is no controversy anywhere, that child marriageshould not be suppressed. However, in the current socio-cultural context, where child marriageis prevalent, what should be the implications on health care providers if they come across teenage married pregnant lady, or teenage approach for contraception or MTP? Will you give reproductive and sex education to children and adolescents?. Is there need to distinguish offensesof child marriagefrom sexual offense? We have tried to raise a debate on the issue to inform policymakers for suitable amendments.