Supreme Court Challenges Consensual Sex Between Adolescents

• Jaising, a senior Supreme Court advocate, argues that consensual sexual acts between adolescents aged 16-18 cannot be classified as “abuse” or prosecuted as a crime.

• Jaising’s submissions are part of a petition filed by advocate Nipun Saxena in 2012.

• She suggests that the age of consent under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO) criminalizes such acts.

• Jaising proposes a ‘close-in-age exception’ for consensual sexual acts between adolescents.

• The case also challenges the increase of consent age from 16 to 18 years through the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013.