The Union government has said that it has no plans of reducing the age of consent for sexual relationships to 16 years. In a written reply provided on Wednesday, December 21, to the question raised at the Parliament by Binoy Viswam, a CPI (M) MP from Kerala, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani said that the need to reduce the age of consent “does not arise.”
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 criminalises any sexual activity below 18 years, even if it is consensual. The age of consent was raised from 16 years to 18 years in 2012. Smriti Irani said that the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 was enacted to protect children from sexual harassment and assault and the Act mentions that any person below 18 years is a child. The Minister further stated that the Act was amended in 2019, and the punishment was made more stringent for committing crimes against children.
Smriti Irani’s reply came days after Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud appealed to the Parliament to relook at the age of consent for sex under the POCSO Act. He said that the age of consent needed to be revised because judges are facing difficulties while looking at cases of adolescents involved in consensual sexual relationships. According to The Hindu, the CJI said, “In my time as a judge, I have observed that this category of case poses difficult questions for judges across the spectrum. There is a growing concern surrounding this issue which must be considered by the Legislature.”
A recent study undertaken by Enfold Proactive Health Trust, an NGO based out of Bengaluru, stated that 23.4% of the cases registered under POCSO in three states (Assam, Maharashtra and West Bengal) were ‘romantic cases’. The report defined romantic cases as those where the victim, their family members, and/or the special court states that the accused person and the victim were in a consensual romantic and/or sexual relationship. In the report, experts have also recommended lowering the age of consent and there cannot be a blanket criminalisation of adolescent sexuality.
Watch: Why are many demanding the age of consent for sex be lowered to 16 years? | Let Me Explain