Nithyakalyani Narayanan. V
The Bombay High Court has suggested that many countries have reduced the minimum age of consent for sexual relations, and it is high time for India to do the same.
On July 10th, the High Court set aside a conviction of a 25-year-old for sexual relations with a 17-year-old girl. The single-judge-bench expressed its concern over the increasing number of criminal cases as per the POCSO Act provisions, where the accused are reprimanded even if the adolescent girls express that they were in a consensual relationship.
The girl was a major under Muslim law, and therefore she had ‘Nikah’ with the accused man. Justice Bharati Dangre acquitted the accused since the evidence clearly explained a case for consensual sex and directed that he must be released from jail.
The court pointed out that in countries like Germany, Italy, Portugal and Hungary, the age of consent is 14, in London and Wales, it is 16 and in Japan, it is 13.
“A case of physical attraction or infatuation always comes forth, when a teenager enters into a sexual relationship and it is high time that our country is also cognizant of happenings around the world.”