'Criminalising consensual sexual relations, age of consent should be 16'; Amicus Curiae tells SC

NEW DELHI: Amicus Curiae and senior advocate Indira Jaising urged the Supreme Court to reduce the minimum age for consent to sexual intercourse from 18 to 16. For this, an amendment should be made to the POCSO Act. Meanwhile, the central government remained adamant that the minimum age for consent should remain 18. The issue of charging a boy with POCSO for consensual sex with a minor girl under the law was under consideration by the Supreme Court. The amicus curiae and the central government were responding to this issue.

The amicus curiae raised concern over the current legal system criminalising romantic relationships among teenagers. 'By criminalising consensual sexual relations, the constitutional rights of teens are being denied, ' Amicus Curiae pointed out that abuse and mutual consent should be considered as two separate situations. There was a 180 per cent increase in POCSO cases involving people between the ages of 16 and 18 from 2017 to 2021. The central government amended the POCSO Act in 2013 to raise the age of consent to 18.

The central government informed the Supreme Court that no move to amend the provisions of the POCSO Act will be allowed. The central government fears that relaxing the age barrier will see a spike in sexual abuse of children in the country.