Centre Backs 18 As Legal Age Of Consent In Supreme Court
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Centre tells SC that 18 is a deliberate and protective age limit for consent, crucial to child safety. Warns that lowering it risks abuse under the guise of adolescent romance.
New Delhi: On August 7, the Central Government has strongly defended the existing statutory age of consent set at 18 years under Indian law, calling it a “deliberate, well-considered, and coherent” decision aimed at protecting minors from sexual exploitation.
The Centre filed its written submissions before the Supreme Court through Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati in response to a plea seeking to reduce the age of consent in cases involving adolescent relationships.
The Union Government argued that lowering the age of consent or adding exceptions under the name of adolescent love or romantic involvement would not only be dangerous but also legally flawed.
It warned that such changes could create legal loopholes for sexual predators and compromise the integrity of child protection laws.
ASG Aishwarya Bhati submitted on behalf of the Centre that,
“Any departure from this standard, even in the name of reform or adolescent autonomy, would amount to rolling back decades of progress in child protection law, and undermine the deterrent character of statutes like the POCSO (the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act, 2012 and the BNS (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita).”
According to the Centre, any effort to reduce the age of consent would
“provide a defence mechanism even to those abusers who exploit a child’s emotional dependence or silence.”
The submission stressed that the present age of 18 should continue to be “strictly and uniformly enforced” to ensure complete protection of children’s bodily autonomy and mental well-being.
It further argued that the discretion in evaluating cases must remain with the judiciary and should not be legislated into the law as a broad or general exception.
The Centre warned that,
“Introducing a legislative close-in-age exception or reducing the age of consent would irrevocably dilute the statutory presumption of vulnerability that lies at the heart of child protection law. A diluted law risks opening the floodgates to trafficking and other forms of child abuse under the garb of consent.”
The government’s legal team reiterated,
“Lowering the age of consent… would open the ‘floodgates’ to trafficking and other forms of child abuse under the garb of assent.”
The case currently before the Supreme Court raises crucial questions about how the law should view consensual relationships between teenagers.
While the Centre stood firm on its stance, it emphasized that the current age limit was not arbitrary but based on sound legal and constitutional principles.
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The Centre said,
“The legislative determination to fix the age of consent at eighteen (18) years, and to treat all sexual activities with a person below that age as an offence irrespective of purported consent, is a product of a deliberate, well-considered, and coherent statutory policy,”
It further explained that this policy reflects a deeper understanding of the socio-economic context in India.
The submission noted,
“The law does not treat the age limit as arbitrary and rather, it reflects a constitutional and legislative recognition of a minor’s vulnerability, especially in a socio-economic context marked by deep inequalities and power imbalances,”
The Centre also highlighted that children often cannot resist or report abuse, particularly when the abuser is someone from the family. In such cases,
“presenting ‘consent’ as a defence only victimises the child, shifts the blame onto them, and undermines the very object of POCSO to protect children from exploitation regardless of whether they were ‘willing’.”
To protect the bodily integrity of minors and uphold the spirit of existing child protection laws, the Centre emphasized that,
“The existing age of consent ought to be retained in order to give full effect to the legislative intent, protect the bodily integrity of children, and uphold the constitutional and statutory safeguards accorded to them.”
Highlighting judicial consistency on this matter, the Centre stated,
“The Supreme Court along with high courts across the country have always maintained the sanctity of legal age of consent as 18 years of age. This statutory yardstick has been upheld on numerous occasions, keeping in view the legislative intent and the pre-eminent constitutional mandate of protecting young children.”
On the other side, senior advocate Indira Jaising, who has been appointed as amicus curiae (a friend of the court), had earlier argued in favour of lowering the age of consent.
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She had urged the top court to consider reducing it from 18 to 16 years. According to her, the existing law ends up punishing consensual teenage couples and violates their constitutional rights.
Jaising submitted that,
“The current law criminalises consensual romantic relationships among adolescents and violates their constitutional rights.”
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