The Law Commission of India is considering reducing the age of consent for girls, for this it has sought opinion from the Ministry of Women and Child Development. Currently, the age of consent for girls is 18. If a person has sex with a girl before she completes 18 years of age, then he is considered guilty of sexual offense under the POCSO Act and sections of the IPC. Even if the sex is done by the accused with the consent of the girl because the consent of the minor has no significance in the law, the consent of the minor is considered as non consent. On the contrary, the ground reality is that many girls run away from home with their lovers before completing 18 years of age and also have sex with their lovers. Many such cases have come before the courts and will continue to come in the future where minor girls of 16 years or above have eloped with their lovers. These minor girls have also had sex with their lovers as it is a crime to have sex with minor girls without their consent. When such cases come before the courts where the lover of the girl had sex with her consent, yet the lover of the minor remains behind the bars.A minor girl who had dreams of settling down with her lover, her dreams are shattered, a mountain of trouble breaks down on the lover and his family. When the court sees all this with its own eyes, then a state of confusion arises in its mind as well, but due to being bound by the law, the court is also unable to help the minor girl and her lover.In view of the increasing cases of this type, many High Courts have suggested to the Law Commission to reconsider the age of consent of the girl.A similar statement was also given by the Chief Justice of India D.B. Chandrachud during a seminar on the POCSO Act.The Chief Justice said that the legislature needs to take note of the fact. After these suggestions received from the High Courts, the Law Commission of India is considering whether the age of sex can be reduced with the consent of the girl. For this, he is seeking their opinion from the concerned ministries ministries .If the commission takes a decision, it will be published by The Indian Law
Express.