The 22nd Law Commission submitted a report to the Union Ministry of Law and Justice on Friday, 29 September, suggesting that it is "not advisable to tinker" with the existing age of consent. According to Indian law, the age of consent is 18 years.
The argument: Opposing the reduction of the age of consent to 16 years, the Law Commission said that it would reduce the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2011, to a "paper law."
It “will lead to many unintended consequences of much severe nature…" the Commission argued.
“If there is an automatic decriminalisation once the defence of consent is claimed, then it must be borne in mind that consent is something that can always be manufactured… Further, the police investigation suffers from a great number of inadequacies and if it is the investigating agencies that get to determine if there was consent or not, then a lot of genuine cases that need to be prosecuted under the POCSO Act may not see trial on account of investigating agencies themselves declaring them to be cases of consensual romantic sexual relationship…"Law Commission Report