As per Indian laws, age of consent for sex is 18 years. That means sexual intercourse with a girl under 18 can put the person behind bar. But there is loop hole to this law provided by section 375 of IPC. Per that, if girl is more than 15 years only then marital sex is permitted.
Now many of us may wonder what is the problem with that any way she is his wife. Well, it is not as simple as it seems.
At the age of 15 one person might not be with in right mental capacity to take big decisions like marriage and sex which is going to affect him/her for rest of the life. In addition to that, there are many reported incidents where rich people especially from middle east marry under aged girls have sex and then divorce them. Another anomaly with this law is if in normal cases girl must be 18 years old to be eligible for sexual intercourse legally then how come in married case it can be lowered to 15.
This is the anomaly SC corrected yesterday. As per the judgement,
The minimum age of marriage now laid down by law (after 1978) is 18 years in the case of females and the relevant clause of Section 375 should reflect this changed attitude. Since marriage with a girl below 18 years is prohibited (though it is not void as a matter of personal law), sexual intercourse with a girl below 18 years should also be prohibited – SCI Judgement
This is indeed a good step (of course if other wings of administration implement it properly) in reducing abuses against girls. Marriage at ages as young as 15 is not only forcing her to have sexual intercourse; but also, depriving her of schooling, education and childhood. Without education, she won’t able to understand her rights and achieving financial freedom is difficult if not impossible.
Sajeev
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