The government should
not tinker with the age of
consent — currently 18
years — under the Protec-
tion of Children from Sex-
ual Offences (POCSO) Act,
the Law Commission said
in a report made public on
Friday. Instead, it advised
the introduction of “guid-
ed judicial discretion”
while sentencing in cases
that involve the tacit ap-
proval of children in the 16
to 18 years age bracket.
The 22nd Law Commis-
sion, headed by Justice (Re-
tired) Ritu Raj Awasthi,
submitted its report (no.
283) to the Law Ministry on
September 27. It was post-
ed on the Ministry website
on Friday.
In the report, the Law
panel noted that certain
amendments would be re-
quired in the POCSO Act,
2012 to remedy the situa-
tion in cases involving tacit
approval, though not con-
sent under law, on the part
of children aged between
16 and 18 years.
The panel said that re-
ducing the age of consent
would have a direct and
negative bearing on the
fight against child marriage
and child trafficking; it also
advised the courts to tread
with caution even in cases
related to “adolescent
love”, where criminal in-
tention may be missing.
The reference on the age of consent was made to
the Law Commission on November 9, 2022 by the
Karnataka High Court (Dharwad Bench), which
asked the Commission “to rethink on the age cri-
teria for consent, taking into consideration the ris-
ing number of cases relating to minor girls above
the age of 16 years falling in love, eloping and hav-
ing sexual intercourse with the boy”.
A similar reference was also made by the Mad-
hya Pradesh High Court (Gwalior Bench) in April
this year, where the Court noted that the enforce-
ment of the POCSO Act, in its present form, “caus-
es injustice in cases of statutory rape where de fac-
to consent is present”.
Taking note of such judicial observations, the
Commission noted that cases where there is tacit
approval do not merit the same severity as “cases
that were ideally imagined to fall under the POC-
SO Act”.
“The Commission, therefore, deems it fit to in-
troduce guided judicial discretion in the matter of
sentencing in such cases. This will ensure that the
law is balanced, thus safeguarding the best inter-
ests of the child,” Justice Awasthi said in the letter.
On September 27, the Law Commission also
submitted a report (no. 282) in which it recom-
mended rolling out the registration of eFIRs in a
phased manner, beginning with offences that at-
tract a jail term of up to three years.
The panel said that eFIRs will tackle the per-
sisting issue of delays in the registration of FIRs,
and will allow citizens to report crimes in real
time. “ Clinging on to an archaic system of regis-
tering FIRs does not augur well for criminal re-
forms,” Justice Awasthi noted in his covering letter
to the Law Minister.