Bombay HC bats for lowering consent age for sex

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has said several countries have reduced the age of consent for adolescents to enter into a consensual sexual relationship and it is high time our country and Parliament are also cognisant of happenings around the world.

A single bench of Justice Bharati Dangre in an order passed on July 10 expressed concern over the increasing number of criminal cases under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, where the accused are castigated even when the victims, being adolescents, maintain they were in a consensual relationship.

“Sexual autonomy encompasses both the right to engage in wanted sexual activity and the right to be protected from unwanted sexual aggression. Only when both aspects of adolescent’s rights are recognised, human sexual dignity can be considered to be fully respected,” it said.

The court made the remarks in an appeal filed by a 25-year-old man challenging a February 2019 order of a special court convicting him for raping a 17-year-old girl.

The man and the girl had claimed they were in a consensual relationship. The girl in her submission before the special court claimed that under Muslim law, she was considered a major and hence she had ‘nikah’ with the accused man.

Justice Dangre quashed the conviction order and acquitted the man, noting the evidence on record clearly made out a case for consensual sex, and ordered his release.

The age of consent necessarily must be distinguished from the age of marriage as sexual acts do not happen only in the confines of marriage, and not only the society but the judicial system must take note of this important aspect, the HC said.

“Over time, the age of consent has been increased by various statutes in India. It was maintained at 16 from 1940 till 2012, when the Pocso Act raised the age of consent to 18, probably one of the highest ages globally, as a majority of the countries have set it in the range of 14 to 16 years,” the HC said.