This provision, though defnitely intended to target sexual exploitation of children i.e. a male or a female, however, has created a gray area, as it has defnitely resulted in criminalizing consensual adolescence/teenage relationship and after the POCSO Act raised the age of consent from 16 to 18, even in case of a consensual sexual activity, where one of the party is an adolescent and other a major, the act of the other party is liable for criminal action. 15. In a case like the one before me, where the prosecutrix is of 17 years and 5 months when the FIR is lodged and she had indulged into sex voluntarily with the accused with her will and consent, clearly reflecting a romantic relationship between the two, the question is whether merely because she has not touched 18, and barely a few months away from attaining majority as per law, whether the act of sexual intercourse would attract the offence under the POCSO Act and would it amount to an offence of rape, as Section 375 contemplate, an act of penetration of penis into the vagina of a woman would amount to rape, even if it has occurred with her consent, just because she is under 18 years of age.
