Source: The Guardian
By Michael Safi in Delhi
India’s supreme court has struck down a law allowing men to have sex with children as young as 15 provided the pair are married.
But the court stopped short of revoking an exception in the country’s criminal law that permits rape in marriage, currently the subject of separate legal proceedings.
A two-judge bench of India’s highest court was responding to a public interest lawsuit arguing that the exception to sexual assault laws for “a man with his own wife, his wife not being under 15 years of age” encouraged child marriage.
Indian child protection laws already prohibit an adult from having sex with someone below the age of 18.
Categories: Asia, India, Marriage, Rights of Women, The Muslim Times
I probably get io trouble again, but … ‘age of start of sexually activity’ in Europe averages 15 to 16. consequently to prohibit marriages below 18 would mean encouraging sex outside of marriage. We have to think a bit logical here.
Good
I, too, am in favour of later marriage, say 18, but for the sake of argument let’s make it 16. More emphasis should be on discouraging early sexual activity, although we know that it happens. But it should be made a crime for an older man to take advantage of a young girl, and the consequences should be made clear. Unfortunately, it’s a problem around the world.