Having sex with persons below 18 years of age will soon be deemed as 'rape', irrespective of 'consent or no consent', as the government is set to approve the amendments suggested by the parliamentary standing committee in the Protection of Child from Sexual Offence Bill, 2011.
Revealing this, sources informed that the bill is likely to be cleared at a meeting of the Union Cabinet, which will meet on Thursday.
“In the original bill the provision was not to treat consensual actions by and against children between
the age group of 16 to 18 as crime,” sources said.
Sources, however, revealed that after receiving the recommendations of the standing committee, it was decided to raise the age bar to 18 years.
They said, as of now, Section 375 of the IPC reads: “Rape will be committed with or without consent when the girl is under 16 years of age.”
But the standing committee had said: “Once the age of the child has been specified as 18 years, the element of consent should be treated as irrelevant up to this age.”
Incidentally, the amendment will also be in consonance with the country’s commitments towards the
UNCRC and Juvenile Justice Act, 2000. The proposed law aims to protect children from offences,
including sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography.