NEW DELHI: Critics of India's government's new sex law for teenagers say the legislation is “regressive” and could lead to unnecessary policing in the country. India is raising the age of consent for sex to 18 under a new law seen by some children's rights activists as being out of step with social changes and open to abuse. Under a provision in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act approved by parliament last month, sex with a person under the age of 18 will be deemed as statutory rape and subject to prosecution. Once formally signed into law by the president, the new legislation will supersede a clause in India's Penal Code that previously set the age of consent at 16 and will carry sentences ranging from three years to life imprisonment. Delhi-based social worker Rajesh Rama told Bikymasr.com that by increasing the age of consent, it could throw many young couples into the criminal sector and cause unnecessary harm. “Right now, there are many other issues that the country should be tackling and this increase will mean that if a couple is say, 17 and 18, then they will be criminals and could be arrested,” he said. “This is not the right course of action, especially if the government wants to curtail teen pregnancy. What is needed is cultural dialogue and education to our young people,” he added. The real fear, Rama and others say, is that police could use the new legislation to abuse young people, especially women, if caught in acts deemed inappropriate. “We can't pretend children are not sexually active when they are adolescents,” says one senior child welfare official working for a government body who did not want to be named. “This law is plain regressive.” The third National Family Health Survey, the most recent comprehensive government study from 2005-2006, states that 43 percent of women aged 20-24 had had sex before they were 18. In rural areas, the high proportion is because of the prevalence of child marriage — more than 47 percent of women aged 20-24 were married by 18 — while in urban areas attitudes on everything from religion to sex are changing. Surveys from news magazines such as India Today and Outlook find young urban Indians are increasingly open to pre-marital intercourse and more exposed to sex through pornography or steamy films and television shows than ever before. For Shantha Sinha, the chief of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, a state-funded body, the law was open to abuse. “It can be used to the disadvantage of children if one has to settle scores,” she says, raising the scenario of under-age girls using the law against former partners even if the sex was consensual. The police may be able to use it to “harass young couples in parks”, Sinha says, while partners who elope — a common occurrence in India where arranged marriages are the norm — could also be targeted. “You have cases where young people in love elope to escape parental objections and censure. The parents can use this law and make it legally tough for them,” she said.
