National
What SC ruling on criminalising sex with wife below 18 means
By Sarwar Kashani
New Delhi, Oct 11 (IANS) The Supreme Court’s landmark ruling Wednesday criminalising sex with wife below 18 has cleared an inconsistency in laws that differed over the legal age of sexual consent.
While Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) allows sexual intercourse with wife aged between 15 and 18 years, the child abuse laws under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) sets the age of marriage as 18 for girls and 21 for men. This meant that a husband was allowed to have sex with his wife with or without consent even if she is above 15 and below 18.
The Supreme Court, however, struck it down and declared that the IPC provision that lowers the legal age for sex to 15 if the girl is married was unconstitutional. The “exception in rape law is discriminatory, capricious and arbitrary. It violates bodily integrity of the girl child,” said the apex court.
The inconsistency:
The IPC Section 375 makes an exception clause, permitting sexual intercourse with wife, under 15.
“Sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under 15 years of age, is not rape,” according to the clause.
However the POCSO Act, which came into force on November 14, 2012, characterises a child as “any person below the age of 18 years” and comprehensively defines “penetrative sexual assault”, “sexual assault” and “sexual harassment”.
Penetrative sexual assault, according to the act, is punished with imprisonment of not less than seven years which can be extended to imprisonment for life.
However the government, responding to a plea filed before the apex court by the NGO Independent Thought, defended the Section 375 exception in the Supreme Court in August.
The government said a man forcibly having sex with his wife, even if she is above 15 and less than 18, should not come under IPC Section 375 because it is to “protect the institution of marriage”.
The NGO’s founder and lawyer Vikram Srivastava told IANS that the inconsistency in the laws had categorised girls into two.
For those not married, the age of sexual consent was 18. But a husband was allowed to have sexual intercourse with his wife if she is above 15, irrespective of her consent, Srivastava said.
“The provision gave protection to men marrying girls less than 18. That protection has been taken off. Now, they can be charged as the Supreme Court rules gives a universal definition of the age of (sexual) consent.”
Srivastava said the verdict would boost the “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” campaign even as the government’s stand on the age of sexual consent ran contradictory to what it had been saying because it discriminated against a girl child who is forced into marriage before achieving the age 18.
(Sarwar Kashani can be contacted at [email protected])
–IANS
sar/hs/bg
Lucknow: Vishal Singh, a renowned social worker from Lucknow, also known as Foodman, has once again made India proud. He was honored by the Happy Hands Gloves Cooperative Limited Company in Korathai, Thailand, for his work with the Hunger Free World Mission.
The Hunger Free World Mission’s meeting was held in Korathai, Thailand, under Vishal Singh’s leadership. Representatives from several countries, including Mr. Raja Dwivedi (Managing Director of Happy Hands Gloves Limited), Thailand Coordinator Mr. Raja Mishra, and member Mr. Varun Singh, attended the event.
Under Vishal Singh’s leadership, the attendees took a pledge to work together toward creating a hunger-free world.
Speaking on the occasion, Vishal Singh explained that the main goal of the Hunger Free World Mission is social participation. He said the mission is not just about feeding people but also about meeting other basic needs of those who are struggling. The mission focuses on helping families of terminally ill patients in hospitals by providing food and shelter. It also works to fulfill essential needs like education, jobs, and care for the elderly.
For the last 16 years, the Vijay Sri Foundation has been providing free services, benefiting thousands of people. Vishal Singh highlighted that the mission aims to gain global recognition like other organizations such as WHO, WWF, and Red Cross, which work for social causes.
During this meeting, Vishal Singh was appointed as the Chairman of the Hunger Free World Mission by representatives from various countries. They also discussed holding regular meetings in different countries to push the mission forward.
Business tycoon Dr. Abhishek Verma has also supported this humanitarian mission, vowing to promote the idea of “Seva Parmo Dharma” (Service is the highest duty) worldwide. Vishal Singh praised him, stating that people like Dr .Abhishek Verma inspire others to work for the betterment of society.
Recently, Romania’s Ambassador, Mr . Daniela Sezonov Ţane, invited Vishal Singh to the Romanian Embassy in Delhi, where they discussed the mission in detail. Impressed by his humanitarian work, she honored Vishal Singh and invited him to Romania to take the mission forward .
Food man Vishal Singh has been serving the people of India for the past 16 years. Through the Vijay Sri Foundation, he provides free meals to cancer patients & their families ,shelter, and education for women & children along with running free old-age homes in Lucknow.
In addition to his humanitarian work, Vishal Singh also addresses issues like crime and corruption through his role as Chairman of Seva Path Media and Managing Director of Vijay Sri Foundation.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Vishal Singh and his team worked tirelessly to provide food and help to the needy, including starving children, elderly citizens, and pregnant women. Despite contracting the virus himself, he continued to assist others after his recovery. He even created a life-saving oxygen regulator using household items, which was praised by doctors both in India and abroad.
In his address at the meeting, Vishal Singh spoke about his mission to create a hunger-free world. He pointed out that India’s large population, along with issues like unemployment and poverty, has caused the country to fall on the Hunger Index. He urged people to contribute just one handful of grains daily to help create a hunger-free world.
He concluded by saying that through social participation, we can empower the people around us, meet their basic needs, and work together to build a stronger, more prosperous, and developed society.
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