Law Commission advises against reducing age of consent to 16 under POCSO Act

New Delhi | Updated: September 29, 2023 05:54 PM IST

2 min read

Under common law, minors are now understood to have evolving capacities to make decisions, including decisions about their life and death (Representational)

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The Law Commission has recommended the government to retain the existing age of consent under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, noting that reducing it might have damaging effects on fighting child marriage and child trafficking. The current age of consent in India is 18 years.

The panel further advised the Law Ministry to introduce guided judicial discretion in the matter of sentencing in cases involving tacit approval of children in the 16-18 age bracket, news agency PTI reported. The Commission has further suggested making amendments in the legislation to better deal with cases involving tacit approval of children, though not consent in law, in this age group.

The Law Commission report on the age of consent under the POCSO Act was submitted to the Law Ministry. In the report, the panel also advised courts to be cautious while going through cases under POCSO as the panel observed that criminal intention may be missing in certain cases as adolescent love cannot be controlled.

Additionally, the Law Commission has recommended rolling out registration of e-FIRs in a phased manner beginning with offences bearing up to three years jail term. In the report, which was made public on Friday, the law panel proposed setting up a centralised national portal to facilitate registration of e-FIRs.

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