22nd Law Commission recommends government to retain existing age of consent under POCSO Act

22nd Law Commission has recommended the government to retain the existing age of consent under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. In its report, the Commission noted that reducing it might have damaging effects on fighting child marriage and child trafficking. 

The current age of consent in India is 18 years. It also said that certain amendments need to be brought in the POCSO Act to remedy the situation in cases where there is tacit



approval in fact though not consent in law on part of the child aged between 16 to 18 years. 

It opined that such cases do not merit to be dealt with the same severity as the cases that were ideally imagined to fall under the POCSO Act. The Commission submitted the Report titled “Age of Consent under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012” to the Law Ministry on 27th of this month.