New Delhi: Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani informed Parliament that the Union government has no plans to reduce the age of consent for sexual relationships to 16 years, reports The News Minute.
The minister was replying to CPI(M) MP from Kerala, Binoy Viswam’s question through a written reply dated December 21. Irani said that the need to reduce the age of consent does not arise.
As per the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, any sexual activity below the age of 18 is a crime and does not matter consent. The act raised the age of consent from 16 to 18 years in 2012. Citing the act, Minister Irani said that any person under the age of 18 is a child. She said that the act was amended in 2019, and punishment for the crime has been made stringent.
The minister’s reply comes days after Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud requested the Parliament to reconsider the age of consent. According to him, court judges are facing difficulties while adjudicating cases involved in consensual relationships. He said that there is a growing concern around the issue, which the legislature needs to have a look at.
TNM reports that a recent study by the NGO Enfold Proactive Health Trust inferred that 23.4% of the cases registered under POCSO in three states (Assam, Maharashtra, and West Bengal were ‘romantic cases’ or the persons involved were having a consensual sexual relationship. The authors of the report suggested lowering the age of consent and removing the blanket criminalisation of adolescent sexuality.