The Union Cabinet has passed the revised Prote-ction of Children against Sexual Offences Bill-2011, making any sexual activity for persons below 18 illegal, but the debate on the issue continues. A Delhi court has asked for a revision of the Bill to reduce the age of consent to 16 years. A majority of people — including legal experts, doctors, police and activists — support the Bill, but suggest that all corresponding laws related to marriage should be amended to fix the minimum age at 18 in order to avoid a confusion, as the Bill and other laws are contradictory.
Professor L. Jayashree, of Acharya Nagarjuna University, explained: “The age of marriage is 18, age of consummation of marriage is 15, while as per IPC Section 375, the age of consent for girls is 16. So, there’s a lot of confusion and contradiction in the existing laws.” She says all corresponding laws need to be amended and 18 should be uniformly made the minimum age for marriage and consensual sex. Dr Vema Padmavati, gynaecologist at Yashoda Hospital, said: “A girl’s physical and mental development is not complete until she is 18. Also, if pregnant, it could lead to various health implications, including hy-pertension in the mother.”
Lawyer Anita Salabh Jain says even if the exposure to Internet has made teens more aware about sex, the age of consent should not be below 18 years due to medical and socio-economic reasons. She stressed: “All existing laws should uniformly accept 18 as the minimum age of consent for sex or marriage.” DCP Akun Sabharwal explained: “While I feel protection of minors is badly needed, there’s a clash between the Bill and IPC Section 375 regarding the age of consent. Unless this dichotomy is addressed, there would be a confusion for police to implement the law. So clarity of law and education children about sex is important.”