Supreme Court
NEW DELHI: With Supreme Court scheduling day-to-day final hearing from November 12 on petitions seeking lowering of age of consent from 18 to 16 years, amicus curiae and senior advocate Indira Jaising said on Wednesday adolescents, who are attaining puberty sooner than ever, can give mature consent for sexual relationships.With a host of interveners supporting Center’s stand against lowering age of consent, Jaising told a bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria that in the present age and time, adolescents increasingly getting sexually aware is part and parcel of natural attraction between sexes leading to development of sexual relationships of choice.The amicus argued that there is no empirical data or research to indicate that persons aged between 16 and 18 are incapable of making mature decisions in relation to their sexual preferences and activities. On the contrary, global trends indicate that decisions in relation to sexual activity can be made from the age of 16.She said decriminalising consensual sexual activity between adolescents in the age bracket of 16-18 years along with focus on sexual education will ensure non-abusive and non-exploitative sexual relationships.”It will also lower cases that every HC in this country has to grapple with, where romantic relationships have been criminalised, leading to incarceration of young adolescent couples, which was never the intention of the statute,” Jaising said. However, as many as seven interveners, including Dr Ambedkar Jankalyan Samiti and Centre for Social Development, argued that reducing the age of consent would be misused to manipulate young children and take the crime out of Pocso Act, which was enacted to protect them against sexual exploitation. It may also lead to child marriages, they feared.Jaising said criminalising such consensual sexual relationships would force teenagers to get married to avoid prosecution. Citing National Health and Family Survey-5, she said 45% teenage girls in the age group of 15-19 had sexual intercourse.Dr Ambedkar Jankalyan Samiti apprehended that lowering age of consent will also lead to increasing offences of illegal religious conversion and marriage through mala fide inducement. The Samiti and CSD argued that the age of consent and its genuineness can be decided by courts on a case to case basis without giving blanket immunity from Pocso Act.
