The Law Commission of India has submitted its report on the issue of “Whether the age of consent shall be reduced from 18” in negative.
The Law Commission has suggested that the age shall remain the same and has also suggested certain safeguards.
The Commission has stated that a thorough research of various aspects of the POCSO Act 2012 have been done and finds that the law that protects children from sexual violence shall provide for the age not below 18. In this, the Commission has advocated maintaining the basic strictness of the law. That is, it has been said that the minimum age for having physical relations with mutual consent should be maintained at 18 years.
However, in view of the issues related to its misuse, some safeguards have been suggested. The Commission says in its report that studies conducted on the use of this law revealed that parents are using it as a weapon against girls making the decision to marry willingly.
Many youths who have consensual relationships have fallen victim to this law. In such a situation, a demand was raised that the age for consensual sex should be reduced. The POCSO Act 2012 has criminalized all types of sexual relations under the age of 18 years. Even if there is consent between the two minors. There have been growing voices of criticism in civil society regarding this aspect of the law.
The Chief Justice of India and many other judges have also advocated for the Parliament to review this law. Recently CJI Chandrachud in a function organized by the Bar Association raised his concern.
The Law Commission headed by Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi has asked to look into the fact that despite consent between minors having sexual relations, The age difference should not be much. The report states that if the age difference is 3 years or more. So that case should not be considered an exception and should be considered in the category of crime.
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