Report on Eastern Region Consultation on Adolescent Sexuality and the Law.

Abstract

On 4th and 5th February 2020, a two-day Eastern Region Consultation on ‘Adolescent Sexuality and the Law’ was organized by Partners for Law in Development (PLD), Swayam and New Alipore Praajak Development Society (Praajak) in Kolkata. This meeting is a continuation of national level consultations held by PLD with CEHAT and RCI-VAW (TISS) in Mumbai(August 2017), PLD with AJWS in New Delhi (December 2018) and PLD with TULIR in Chennai (September 2019), to document grassroots experiences of working with the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) to help girls prevent/exit forced marriages; as well as PLD’s socio-legal studies on elopements by under-age girls; the use of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) and the PCMA in cases of consensual relations.