Rachana Ramesh | NT

Bengaluru: The Drugs Control Department of Karnataka issued a diktat to all pharmacists banning them from selling condoms, oral contraceptives and antidepressants to minors, as was reported on Wednesday. The move came after condoms, contraceptives, cigarettes and whiteners were found in bags of Class 10 students during a search by the management of a school recently.

Following this development, the Drug Control Department received several petitions requesting it to take suitable action. However, on Thursday, the department denied having issued the circular and media reports claimed that the Drug Controller of the state said that "they were only trying to create awareness by telling pharmacists to counsel minors who want to purchase condoms and oral contraceptives.”

Other reports have stated the officials were only asked to conduct an awareness programme regarding the use of contraceptives by children from classes 7-9. Vice president of the Karnataka Registered Pharmacists Association Ravi Shankar told media outlets that they have not received any circular or notice from the department regarding the ban on sale of condoms and other related medicines to minors.

“If minors are buying condoms and contraceptives, it is because they are sexually active. By denying these, they are pushed into a high-risk behaviour, and other consequences such as sexually transmitted diseases, unplanned pregnancies and unsafe abortions,” said Dr Sylvia Karpagam, a community medicine expert. She added that if the concern is about minors having sex, then the only protection should not be taken away. Instead, health education messages should be amplified but even this is frowned upon by “the moral gatekeepers”.

“Making anything illegal pushes it underground, which makes it more problematic. It's not going to stop sexual activity but make it more unsafe,” she concluded. Consideration of Pocso “The move endangers adolescents and minors more, who are already in a precarious position because of the Pocso Act as well as mandatory reporting clauses.

This will only put them at further risk,” said Shruthi Ramakrishnan, a senior legal researcher at Enfold, an NGO that works towards preventing child sexual abuse. Under Section 19 of the Act, reporting of child sexual abuse (CSA) to law enforcement authorities is mandatory for anyone who has an apprehension of such an act being committed or has any knowledge of such a case.

This includes NGOs, educators, health professionals, parents, neighbours and legal professionals who might be aware of such cases. For instance, if a minor were to get pregnant (the risk of which increases if there is a ban on contraceptives) and reached out to a health professional to seek a termination, they would be mandated to report the case.

This would then take away the agency of the child and compel them to relive the trauma through the criminal justice system, while also increasing the possibility of them being subjected to social stigma. The minor would likely choose the option of having an unsafe abortion instead. It is to be noted that Pocso defines a “child” to mean a person below the age of 18 years, and criminalises all forms of sexual acts with a child.

Data shows that a vast number of adolescents are sexually active and there are a significant number of ‘consensual’ sexual relations among adolescents and between older adolescents and adults. As per NFHS-5 (2019-21), for example, 39 per cent of women had sex for the first time before they attained 18 years.