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Business Standard
5 days ago
- Politics
- Business Standard
'Bring down age of consent from 18 to 16 years': Plea filed in SC
The Supreme Court has been urged by amicus curiae and senior advocate Indira Jaising to read down the statutory age of consent from 18 to 16 years. Jaising, who is assisting the top court in "Nipun Saxena v. Union of India" case, has filled her written submissions challenging the blanket criminalisation of sexual activity involving adolescents aged 16 to 18 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012 and Section 375 of IPC. She has argued the current law criminalises consensual romantic relationships among adolescents and violates their constitutional rights. Jaising said the legal framework wrongly equates consensual relationships between adolescents with abuse, ignoring their autonomy, maturity, and capacity to consent. There is no rational reason or empirical data to justify the increase in the age of consent from 16 to 18 years, Jaising submitted, noting that the age had remained at 16 for over 70 years until it was raised by the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013. She pointed out the increase came without debate and went against the Justice Verma Committee's recommendation to retain 16 as the age of consent. The amicus curiae submitted adolescents today attain puberty earlier and are capable of forming romantic and sexual relationships of their choice. Scientific and social data, including findings from the National Family Health Survey, indicate sexual activity among teenagers is not uncommon, she said. Jaising cited a 180 per cent rise in prosecutions under POCSO involving minors aged 1618 between 2017 and 2021. Most complaints are filed by parents, often against the girl's will, in cases involving inter-caste or inter-faith relationships, she said, cautioning criminalising consensual sex forces young couples into hiding, marriage or legal trouble, instead of encouraging open dialogue and education". To address this, she urged the court to read into the law a close-in-age exception, which would exempt consensual sexual acts between adolescents aged 16 to 18 from prosecution under POCSO and IPC. Criminalising sex between teenagers is arbitrary, unconstitutional, and against the best interests of children, she said. The senior lawyer referred to international norms and Indian jurisprudence to argue that legal capacity is not strictly age-bound. Quoting the UK's Gillick ruling and India's own Puttaswamy privacy judgment, she said autonomy in decision-making is central to the right to privacy and must extend to adolescents capable of informed sexual choices. The submission also pointed to trends in various high courts, including Bombay, Madras, and Meghalaya, where judges have expressed disapproval over the automatic prosecution of adolescent boys under POCSO. These courts have stressed not all sexual acts involving minors are coercive, and the law should distinguish between abuse and consensual relationships. Jaising concluded urging the top court to declare consensual sex between adolescents aged between 16 and 18 was not a form of abuse and must be excluded from the purview of POCSO and rape laws. She called for a review of the mandatory reporting obligations under Section 19 of POCSO, which deter adolescents from seeking safe medical care. Sexual autonomy is part of human dignity, she said, "and denying adolescents the ability to make informed choices about their own bodies was a violation of Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21 of the Constitution. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Hindu
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Bring down age of consent from 18 to 16 years, Supreme Court told
The Supreme Court has been urged by amicus curiae and senior advocate Indira Jaising to read down the statutory age of consent from 18 to 16 years. Ms. Jaising, who is assisting the top court in "Nipun Saxena v. Union of India" case, has filled her written submissions challenging the blanket criminalisation of sexual activity involving adolescents aged 16 to 18 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012 and Section 375 of IPC. She has argued the current law criminalises consensual romantic relationships among adolescents and violates their constitutional rights. Ms. Jaising said the legal framework wrongly equates consensual relationships between adolescents with abuse, ignoring their autonomy, maturity, and capacity to consent. 'There is no rational reason or empirical data to justify the increase in the age of consent from 16 to 18 years,' Ms. Jaising submitted, noting that the age had remained at 16 for over 70 years until it was raised by the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013. She pointed out the increase came without debate and went against the Justice Verma Committee's recommendation to retain 16 as the age of consent. The amicus curiae submitted adolescents today attain puberty earlier and are capable of forming romantic and sexual relationships of their choice. Scientific and social data, including findings from the National Family Health Survey, indicate sexual activity among teenagers is not uncommon, she said. Ms. Jaising cited a 180% rise in prosecutions under POCSO involving minors aged 16–18 between 2017 and 2021. 'Most complaints are filed by parents, often against the girl's will, in cases involving inter-caste or inter-faith relationships,' she said, cautioning criminalising consensual sex 'forces young couples into hiding, marriage or legal trouble, instead of encouraging open dialogue and education". To address this, she urged the court to read into the law a 'close-in-age' exception, which would exempt consensual sexual acts between adolescents aged 16 to 18 from prosecution under POCSO and IPC. 'Criminalising sex between teenagers is arbitrary, unconstitutional, and against the best interests of children,' she said. The senior lawyer referred to international norms and Indian jurisprudence to argue that legal capacity is not strictly age-bound. Quoting the U.K.'s Gillick ruling and India's own Puttaswamy privacy judgement, she said 'autonomy in decision-making is central to the right to privacy' and must extend to adolescents capable of informed sexual choices. The submission also pointed to trends in various high courts, including Bombay, Madras, and Meghalaya, where judges have expressed disapproval over the automatic prosecution of adolescent boys under POCSO. These courts have stressed not all sexual acts involving minors are coercive, and the law should distinguish between abuse and consensual relationships. Ms. Jaising concluded urging the top court to declare consensual sex between adolescents aged between 16 and 18 was not a form of abuse and must be excluded from the purview of POCSO and rape laws. She called for a review of the mandatory reporting obligations under Section 19 of POCSO, which deter adolescents from seeking safe medical care. 'Sexual autonomy is part of human dignity,' she said, "and denying adolescents the ability to make informed choices about their own bodies was a violation of Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21 of the Constitution."
Time of India
5 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Bring down age of consent from 18 to 16 yrs, SC told
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel The Supreme Court has been urged by amicus curiae and senior advocate Indira Jaising to read down the statutory age of consent from 18 to 16 who is assisting the top court in "Nipun Saxena v. Union of India" case, has filled her written submissions challenging the blanket criminalisation of sexual activity involving adolescents aged 16 to 18 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act ( POCSO ), 2012 and Section 375 of has argued the current law criminalises consensual romantic relationships among adolescents and violates their constitutional said the legal framework wrongly equates consensual relationships between adolescents with abuse, ignoring their autonomy, maturity, and capacity to consent."There is no rational reason or empirical data to justify the increase in the age of consent from 16 to 18 years," Jaising submitted, noting that the age had remained at 16 for over 70 years until it was raised by the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, pointed out the increase came without debate and went against the Justice Verma Committee 's recommendation to retain 16 as the age of amicus curiae submitted adolescents today attain puberty earlier and are capable of forming romantic and sexual relationships of their and social data, including findings from the National Family Health Survey, indicate sexual activity among teenagers is not uncommon, she cited a 180 per cent rise in prosecutions under POCSO involving minors aged 16-18 between 2017 and 2021."Most complaints are filed by parents, often against the girl's will, in cases involving inter-caste or inter-faith relationships," she said, cautioning criminalising consensual sex "forces young couples into hiding, marriage or legal trouble, instead of encouraging open dialogue and education".To address this, she urged the court to read into the law a "close-in-age" exception, which would exempt consensual sexual acts between adolescents aged 16 to 18 from prosecution under POCSO and IPC."Criminalising sex between teenagers is arbitrary, unconstitutional, and against the best interests of children," she senior lawyer referred to international norms and Indian jurisprudence to argue that legal capacity is not strictly the UK's Gillick ruling and India's own Puttaswamy privacy judgment, she said "autonomy in decision-making is central to the right to privacy" and must extend to adolescents capable of informed sexual submission also pointed to trends in various high courts, including Bombay, Madras, and Meghalaya, where judges have expressed disapproval over the automatic prosecution of adolescent boys under courts have stressed not all sexual acts involving minors are coercive, and the law should distinguish between abuse and consensual concluded urging the top court to declare consensual sex between adolescents aged between 16 and 18 was not a form of abuse and must be excluded from the purview of POCSO and rape called for a review of the mandatory reporting obligations under Section 19 of POCSO, which deter adolescents from seeking safe medical care. Sexual autonomy is part of human dignity," she said, "and denying adolescents the ability to make informed choices about their own bodies was a violation of Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21 of the Constitution."
Scroll.in
6 days ago
- Politics
- Scroll.in
Yet again, Odisha student's death by suicide shows how India is still failing women
Predictable, knee-jerk reactions and promises of harsh punishment followed the death by suicide of a 20-year-old woman from Odisha on July 14 after she was sexually harassed by a college faculty member. The incident underscored how India's reactive and punishment-focused response to violence against women is fundamentally inadequate. The 20-year-old BEd student at Fakir Mohan Autonomous College in Balasore had set herself ablaze outside the principal's office on July 12. Two days later, she succumbed to 95% burn injuries at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhubaneswar The student's testimonials and letters being circulated by the media show that she was harassed for months by the head of department Samir Kumar Sahu, who allegedly demanded sexual favours to clear her attendance backlogs. Sahu was arrested on July 12 and college principal Dilip Ghosh soon after. The student had met Balasore MP Pratap Sarangi to report the harassment. She had also posted about the harassment on her X account tagging the Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Majhi, the state's higher education minister and Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan, who is a Member of Parliament from Odisha. But her pleas went unheard. The immediate aftermath followed a familiar script, with Majhi promising 'strictest punishment under law'. The state government hastily directed higher education institutions to constitute Internal Complaints Committees under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, as if the absence of such mechanisms had been a sudden revelation rather than a longstanding oversight. It shows that even basic legal mandates under the act are unaddressed in Odisha. The opposition Biju Janata Dal and Congress held protests in Odisha demanding political accountability. But systemic accountability will not result solely from resorting to criminal law and punishing offenders. The systemic failures that enable such violence must be addressed. However, since the 2012 Delhi gangrape, India has repeatedly turned to punitive legislation to address sexual violence. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, and the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018, introduced harsher penalties for sexual offences. After the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the state-run RG Kar Hospital in August last year, West Bengal enacted the Aparajita Woman and Child Act, 2024. But less than a year later, in July, Kolkata witnessed another violent crime: a law student was gangraped in an alleged act of revenge by a former classmate after she refused to marry one of them. The persistence of such crimes despite severe laws underlines the futility of seeking deterrence through retributive punishment alone. Friends of the Odisha student say her ordeal was not confined to sexual harassment by Sahu but also included verbal abuse and harassment that she endured for months. Sexual slurs and rumours of her being of 'loose' character were circulated on college WhatsApp groups. Demeaning language by her peers led to her being ostracised, possibly creating an environment of isolation and despair. The college Internal Complaints Committee had found Sahu guilty and recommended his transfer but the directive was not implemented. These failings show that it was not just a case of individual misconduct, but a comprehensive institutional failure that pushed a young woman to the brink. This occured despite the fact that the prevention of workplace sexual harassment law, which has mechanisms to check such incidents, includes educational institutions under its purview. Section 19 of the act mandates employers to organise workshops and awareness programmess on sexual harassment and conspicuously display the consequences of sexual harassment as well as the manner of reporting to the internal complaints committee. Merely focusing on punishing Sahu and the principal shifts focus away from the government's shortcomings in implementing the safeguards already in place. However, days after the incident, the Odisha government on July 19 announced the Shaktishree programme for women's safety. Its main features include a mobile app to report complaints, an empowerment cell of female faculty and students, a code of conduct, online training on the prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace act and increased camera surveillance. #Odisha takes a bold step with the #Shaktishree Initiative to ensure safer campuses for women. — CMO Odisha (@CMO_Odisha) July 19, 2025 The state government's technocratic approach ignores ground realities such as the fact that women, especially those from marginalised groups, have low access to smartphones and the internet. Similarly, the reliance on student-led cells, training modules and periodic visits by mentors treats sexual harassment as coordination problem rather than one requiring fundamental cultural change. The Balasore student had already reported her harassment through existing channels to the college internal complaints committee. More reporting mechanisms would not have protected her when the system failed to act on her complaints. Majhi, while announcing the Shaktishree programme, did not say whether the government has the capacity to deliver these measures, and in what timeframe. It also is not clear how everyday incidents will be prevented while this new initiative is put into place. Women as citizens Implementing both, the prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace act and the Shaktishree initiative requires political will grounded in the recognition of women's rights as citizens, not daughters, sisters or mothers. This is difficult in Indian society where close-knit family relations and caste and religion markers determine the worth of women, creating a pervasive rape culture. In another incident in Odisha earlier in July, BJP legislator Santosh Khatua used sexual slurs against Lekhashree Samantasinghar, a senior leader of the opposition Biju Janata Dal. After Samantasinghar's complaint, the police filed a case against Khatua. But the ruling BJP did not admonish its legislator or criticise his behaviour. In March, after the Congress alleged that crimes against women in the state had increased, the state government refused to constitute a house committee to consider this phenomenon. This political apathy creates an enabling environment in which violent crimes against women flourish with impunity, provoking public outrage only when they breach the narrow boundaries of respectability. In the case of the Balasore student, this culture of impunity proved fatal, as political leaders turned a blind even as the student pleaded with them to intervene. The path forward demands the strict implementation of the orders of the internal complaints committee, mandatory gender sensitisation programmes, regular institutional audits, robust grievance redressal mechanisms, psychosocial support and a cultural transformation that challenges deep-rooted social prejudices. Unless these are addressed, preventable tragedies such as the death of the young woman in Balasore will continue.
Time of India
19-07-2025
- Time of India
Menace in the sky: UP villagers chase drones with sticks & stones
Drones in UP sky spark fear BIJNOR: Just before dusk on Friday, a drone swooped low over Bulandshahr District Jail, hovered for several seconds, shifted its angle, and turned back. Within hours, aerial footage of the compound surfaced on social media. By Saturday morning, the pilot was arrested, the drone seized, and police had filed charges for unauthorised flying and filming inside a protected no-fly, no-photography zone. Bhupendra Singh, 25, has been charged under sections 223 (breach of peace) and 351(1) (acts endangering safety) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with provisions of the IT Act, Prison Act, and Criminal Law (Amendment) Act. Though Singh's case appears procedural — cops say he's been identified as source of the footage — there is growing unease in the region. What the law says The sky, once carrying birds, now feels crowded. As night falls & power lines flicker, residents climb rooftops with torches, keeping watch for hours. Across villages in UP, people have begun mounting rooftop vigils, chasing away low-flying drones with torches, stones, and sharpened sticks as sightings multiply and suspicion deepens. For several nights before the jail airspace was breached, 'strange lights' were spotted drifting across districts encircling Bulandshahr — Bijnor, Moradabad, and Amroha. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Up to 70% off | Libas Purple Days Sale Libas Undo Over rooftops and farms, between mango orchards and grain silos, blinking red and blue as they swept silently across villages after sundown. No one knew who operated them, but everyone noticed. In Syohara (Bijnor), torches burned till dawn. In Chhajlat (Moradabad), someone fired a shot skyward. In Bukharipur, an e-rickshaw battery went missing hours after a drone was seen hovering overhead. In Dhabarsi and Ogarpur (Amroha), residents began drawing maps — not of fields, but of drone paths and power cuts. 'They stop above your house like they are measuring it,' said Brahampal Singh of Isapur Sharkee. In Rajoha, three young men filming reels were beaten by villagers who thought they were guiding drones for a robbery ring. In Adampur, a drone passed overhead one evening, later that night someone stole a two-wheeler battery. 'Maybe a coincidence, maybe a conspiracy,' said one resident. Police have said no theft has yet been conclusively linked to drones. But across dozens of villages, the fear persists: someone is watching, and no one knows who. Bijnor SP Sanjeev Vajpayee said cops had stepped up night patrols, were tracking local drone sales, and scanning social media for flight footage. 'Some of this is probably mischief,' he said. 'But not all of it.' Apart from jail breach arrest, no other pilots have been identified, and no drones recovered. Yet in village after village, people keep looking up.
