Who decides the “best interests” of the child?

Abstract

B was a frail 15-year-old girl who was brought to the hospital by the police. She had met a 22-year-old boy on a social networking site a few months earlier. They had fallen in love and she had started living with him. On finding his daughter missing, B's father reported the matter to the police station. The police caught the couple and brought them to the police station. The boy was arrested. The father sent B to a shelter home lest she run away from home again. The police registered a complaint of rape.

Consensual Sexual Intercourse among children Vs Current Legal Provisions under POCSO: A Scientific Review with Prospective Quantitative Analytical Study

“…Here we wish to quote a case reported by Sujata Aryakar and Aarathi Chandrashekhar, where 15 year old girl willingly eloped with and married a 22 year old man. 6 In the same case, the Special court judge rejected the notion that the human body of a person under 18 years is the property of the state, whereby it can restrict individual autonomy. While ruling, the judge held that criminalizing such behavior would not serve the purpose of the enactment.…”