Sexual Abuse through Child Marriages - The Law in India

Right to Sexual Autonomy of Children—Implications of the UNCRC upon the Indian Law on the Age of Consent

“…Section 42A was inserted into POCSO by virtue of this amendment, stating that the provisions of POCSO shall override the provisions of any law that is inconsistent with POCSO. As POCSO does not recognise sexual intercourse between a child-wife above the age of 15 with her husband, it stands to reason that by virtue of Section 42A of POCSO, the age of consent of a married female ought also to be 18 years(Mathew 2017b).To complicate things further, the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 specifies 18 as the legal age of marriage for a woman, and 21 as the legal age for marriage of a man. So as per the statute, women can enter sexual relationships within marriage from the age of 15, and enter sexual relationships outside marriage after the age of 18 (pre-2013 Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013, women's age of consent was 16 as per Section 375), while males can enter sexual relationships within marriage before the age of 21, and outside marriage from the age of 18.…”