No sex before 16, says panel

Move will end contradictions in various laws

MUMBAI: The 2001 Census reveals that over 12.77 crore boys and girls under the age of 18 are already married in India. Maharashtra alone accounts for over 94 lakh marriages of under-18 couples with more than seven lakh marriages of below 10-year-olds.

These statistics stress the importance of the Law Commission’s other recommendation to bar marriage of anyone below 18. While studying the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, (PCMA), the Commission found that the present law did not make a child marriage invalid even if it was below 15 years. Also, several court judgments have upheld child marriages.

The Commission, in its proposal to the government, noted that child marriage stunts growth and development, particularly of the girl child who is the more vulnerable to domestic violence and sexual abuse. It also deprives the girl child of her right to obtain education and live with freedom and dignity.

In its 44-page report, the Commission has also proposed that the age for sexual consent should be raised from 15 years to 16 years for all girls, regardless of marital status. Currently, consensual sex with one’s 15-year-old ‘wife’ does not amount to rape. The India Penal Code, however, states that consensual sex with a girl below 16 years amounts to rape. The recommendation is aimed at fixing the age of consent at 16 to correct the contradictions between the laws.