Decriminalization of Consensual Sex at 16-18, SC Seeks Centre’s View

New Delhi: Hearing a PIL urging a direction to decriminalize the law on statutory rape invoked against 16 to 18-year-old adolescents for indulging in consensual sex, the Supreme Court on Friday sought a response from the Centre over the matter.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took note of the PIL filed by lawyer Harsh Vibhore Singhal, and issued notices to Union ministries of law and justice and the home affairs and some other statutory bodies including the National Commission for Women.

The PIL challenges the legality of statutory rape laws that criminalise consensual sex between adolescents who are above 16 years and below 18 years of age on the ground that their consent to such acts are statutorily invalid.

The PIL stated that such adolescents possess “physiological, biological, psychological and social capacities, competence to assimilate and evaluate information to understand and comprehend risks, freedom to make informed choices to convey affirmative decisions or otherwise, and have the agency and decisional/bodily autonomy to fearlessly, freely and voluntarily do what they wish to do with their bodies.”