Age of consent law can’t apply to child brides, govt tells SC

India has 23 million child brides and criminalising the “consummation of the marriages” as rape would not be appropriate, the Centre has told the Supreme Court, opposing a petition that wants 18 to be the age of consent for all girls.

In India rape and child marriage laws disagree on age of consent. Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code says sex with a girl who is below 18 is rape but it has an exception, which says sexual intercourse by a man with his wife, who is 15 or above, is not rape even if it is without her consent.

The provision is contrary counter to the child marriage restraint act that puts 18 as the age of marriage for girls and 21 for men.

Demanding the discrepancy be fixed, an NGO, Independent Thought, told the Supreme Court on Thursday that the inconsistency had split girls below the age of 18 into two categories.

“One, those who are not married and for them, the age of sexual consent is 18. Then there are those who are married and a husband can have sexual intercourse with his wife if she is above the age if 15, irrespective of her consent,” advocate Gaurav Agarwal said, slamming the government for its stand.

Defending Exception 2 in Section 375, the government has said in an affidavit that 46% of the married women between the ages of 18 and 29 had their wedding ceremony before they were 18.

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