In order to prevent “injustice” against young males being charged as offenders, the Madhya Pradesh High Court recommended the Central government to lower the age of consent for women from 18 to 16. When dismissing a FIR filed against a 20-year-old man accused of raping a 16-year-old girl, the high court made the comment.
A single-judge panel led by Justice Deepak Kumar Agarwal reportedly said that the 2012 amendment that raised the legal age of consent from 16 to 18 had “disturbed the fabric of society.”
The judge stated that due to social media awareness and easily accessible internet connectivity, boys and girls are reaching puberty at an earlier age today. He added that this early puberty is causing boys and girls to become attracted to one another, which “inevitably leads 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.
On Thursday, the Madhya Pradesh High Court rejected a FIR against a 20-year-old man who was charged with repeatedly raping a 16-year-old girl for six months before she became pregnant in April 2020.
The guy was detained without bail for three years after being arrested in July 2020 and charged under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code and the pertinent provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (Pocso) Act.
She was a juvenile at the time of the occurrence, according to the prosecution’s version of events, Agrawal said in the ruling. This court would deem it plausible that a person of that age is capable of making a deliberate choice about his or her well-being after considering the physical and mental development of an adolescent of that age group. At first glance, it doesn’t seem as if anybody had bad intentions.
The Central government was also advised by the court to consider “reduc[ing] the age of prosecutrix from 18 to 16 years as earlier, before Amendments, so that injustice should be redressed.”
