Very soon any sexual relation with an individual aged below 18 years will be deemed as rape whether it is with or without consent. This, along with many other changes suggested by the parliamentary standing committee has been incorporated in the draft “Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill, 2011 which is likely to come in the Cabinet next week.
More than two months after the parliamentary standing committee on Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill, 2011 proposed to raise the age under which consensual sex should be considered as rape from 16 years to 18 years, the ministry of women and child development (WCD) is all set to approach the Cabinet soon. “After incorporating the recommendations of the committee, the draft bill has been sent to the law ministry for vetting and is likely to come to the Cabinet next week,” sources in the ministry said. As of now, Section 375 of the IPC reads that “rape will be committed with or without consent when the woman is under 16 years of age”. However, the committee opined that “once the age of the child has been specified as 18 years, the element of consent should be treated as irrelevant upto this age”. The amendment will also be in consonance with the country’s commitments towards UNCRC and the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000.
Concerned over trafficking and sexual abuse of children, the government has also incorporated “” for sexual abuse as an offence under the draft bill. This could make the perpetrators liable for a year’s imprisonment and a fine.
The WCD ministry has also elaborated on the provision to include “recruiting, transporting, harbouring” of a child by threat or coercion.
Along with this, receiving payments or benefits to achieve the consent of the person has also been specified in the draft. This was another recommendation of the standing committee which has been accepted by the ministry.
The bill seeks to protect children from offences such as sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography. It defines any person below the age of 18 years as a “child” and seeks to penalise any person who commits offences such as sexual harassment, sexual assault, penetrative sexual assault and aggravated penetrative sexual assault.