The Madhya Pradesh High Court has considerably requested the Centre to lower the age of consent from 18 to 16 recently.
Youths are maturing considerably more quickly in the Internet age, according to the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act’s minimum age should be lowered from the existing 18 years to 16 years, according to a recommendation made to the Centre by the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Gwalior bench.
The High Court further issued this statement during a hearing related to a plea filed by a 17-year-old boy who had been arrested under the POCSO Act after receiving a complaint from a 14-year-old girl in Gwalior.
An amendment passed in 2012 that raised the legal drinking age from 16 to 18 “disturbed the fabric of society,” according to Justice Deepak Kumar Agarwal’s bench of one.
Due to social media knowledge and readily available internet connectivity, the judge claimed that everyone nowadays who is close to the age of 14 experiences early puberty. He claimed that because of the early onset of puberty, “boys and girls are becoming attracted to each other, ultimately leading to consensual physical relationships.”
“In these situations, men are in no way criminals. Age will determine when they interact with women and start having sexual encounters, he said.
The statements were made after the court dismissed an FIR against a 20-year-old male who was accused by a 16-year-old girl of regularly raping her for six months and getting her pregnant in April 2020.
On Friday, the defense attorney stated that both the victim and the accused gave their agreement to the development of the physical relationship. The bench dismissed the FIR against the accused after hearing both sides’ arguments and asked the Centre to think about lowering the legal drinking limit from 18 to 16.
Youths are maturing considerably more quickly in the Internet age. Many young people have physical relationships before turning 18; occasionally, they are charged with rape, which destroys their future, as noted by the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
Notably, the High Courts of multiple states have made the same recommendation at various points in the last few years.
The Chief Justice of India, D Y Chandrachud, also urged Parliament to reconsider the age of consent in 2022, citing the “difficult questions” that cases involving consenting sexual interactions between minors raised for judges from all perspectives.
According to the reports, CJI D Y Chandrachud further noted that POCSO presents the particular difficulty of criminalizing all sexual activity for individuals under the age of 18, even where consent is actually there between two kids.
Consent Existing law:
The age of consent was raised to 18 in 2013 by the Amendment Act, which implied that any sexual activity between an adult and a minor constituted rape regardless of whether consent was obtained in a particular instance. Any sexual activity with a female who is younger than 18 is considered rape in accordance with Section 375.
