PTI

New Delhi, Feb 6: Having sex with a minor girl under 16 years of age could soon amount to rape even if the girl voluntarily joins her partner in lovemaking.

The Law Commission has recommended that the age for sexual consent should be raised from 15 years to 16 years for girls, regardless of marriage. Thus, even in cases where an under-16 girl elopes, marries a lover and has sex with her "husband," the girl's "husband" cannot escape punishment by claiming that he made love with his "wife."

To remove confusion in such cases, the Commission wants deletion of a portion of Section 375 of the IPC under which a man having sex with his wife over 15 years cannot be hauled up for rape.

Elaborating on the Commission's proposals on issues related to child marriages, the Law Commission's member Kirti Uppal said the panel has proposed that the minimum age for sexual consent should be raised from 15 years to 16 years.

Before recommending an upward revision in girls' minimum age for consensual sex, the Law Commission studied the contradictions that exist between the prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 and Section 375 IPC. It examined whether the Act addressed all the concerns related to child abuse, health and human rights.

The panel studied the convention on the rights of the child, which makes it obligatory for states to protect children from all forms of violence, abuse and neglect.

An in-depth study was conducted into a case related to an 11-year-old bride, Phulmonee, who died after sex with her husband. Phulmonee had died of haemorrhage from a rupture of vagina caused by her husband who had forced sex on her.

This minor bride's death had galvanised public opinion for raising the age of consent, said Commission's member-secretary Sharma. The Commission also studied the changes to the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929, with reference to the age of marriage and age of consent for sexual intercourse, and judgements which have upheld the validity of child marriage through the years.