Society is constantly in a state of change and laws need to take that into account. This was hinted at when the Delhi High Court said that teenage love fell in a legal grey area; it was debatable whether it could be categorised as an offence. The high court granted bail to a man sentenced to prison since April 2022 for having had a relationship with a 17-year-old girl when he was 22 years old. Bail was given because of his age; continued imprisonment would have caused impediments in his life. The high court, however, did not say at this point whether or not he was guilty of abducting a minor girl as the girl’s father had complained. But the court noted that the statements of girls in similar situations, that is, minors in professedly consensual relationships, change under pressure from their parents. The law criminalises sexual relationship with a minor. This is certainly wise given the sexual exploitation of children but it also allows parents to keep daughters under their control. It cannot be taken for granted that a girl of 16 or 17 will always mistake a passing attraction as love or make only an impulsive — therefore damaging — choice while all will change the moment she is 18.

Earlier, the Bombay High Court acquitted a 26-year-old man of the charge of raping a 17-year-old girl with whom he was in a consensual relationship. Even the principle that a minor’s consent is no consent was foiled because, at the time of the hearing, the girl had turned 18. The court commented then that the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act was meant to protect children from sexual abuse but not to criminalise consensual adolescent relationships. Undoubtedly, the law faces a dilemma in this delicate matter because it must set down a cut-off age. It is also concerned about the vulnerability of young girls to grooming on the internet. At the same time, society has changed: neither pre-marital consensual sex nor a serious relationship between, for example, a 17-year-old girl and a 20-year-old man is rare. Legally, as the Delhi High Court said, this is a grey area. It will be up to the courts’ discretion and wisdom to decide when it is an offence by examining each case separately.