Re-Defining The Role Of Indian Legislature In Regulating Consensual Sex Between Minors

The role of legislator is not simply confined to making laws, but they also play a significant role in development of society as a whole as they escalate or attenuate this process of development by the quality of laws they make. The age of consent laws made by the legislator are one set of laws that are working in contradiction of the aims and objectives for which they were enacted and are rather being criticized. The term „age of consent‟ is itself controversial and it has been suggested what is created is an „age of liability‟ for the offender rather than an age of consent.1It has been argued that „age of consent‟ is an establishment of age at which the law of a country decides that a child is allowed to have sexual intercourse and it has very less to do with consent. Much of the behaviour caught within the web of Rape of a child between 16-18 years of age involves the cases of consensual sexual intercourse, thus involving the adolescent youth of the country who are being prosecuted. This necessitates the need to stop this never-ending web of accusations against the boys who are being prosecuted for having sexual intercourse notwithstanding the involvement and consent of the girl to the fullest. The paper is shared out in four sections. In the first section, the author delves into the theme of statutory rape law and POCSO Act to critically analyse its utility in protecting children from consensual sexual acts. In the second section, the author attempts to examine the legislative intent behind setting such a higher age of consent from a historical perspective and brings to the surface a critique of legislative intent and acts. In the third section, based on a critique of traditional ideology and dearth in approbation of principles of criminalization, the author explains the need of decriminalizing consensual sexual acts among adolescents (between 16 to 18 years of age). In fourth section, the author attempts to conclude by quoting suggestions to frame the best practice paradigm to implementing Statutory Rape law in Indian Legal System.