Engaging in any sexual activity with a minor is illegal and unethical. In India, there are concrete laws to protect minors from sexual exploitation, the POSCO Act being the most important of them. A 13-year-old is not legally or emotionally capable of giving informed consent.
Even if a minor believes they are making a choice willingly, the law recognizes their inability to fully understand the consequences and power dynamics involved in such situations. On top of that, the age difference between a 13-year-old and a 26-year-old raises significant concerns about manipulation and exploitation.
We say this because the Bombay High Court recently granted bail to a 26-year-old man who was booked for raping a minor girl who is 13 years old.
Single-judge Justice Urmila Joshi-Phalke noted that even though the girl is a minor, the sexual relationship between the two appeared to be “out of a love affair and not due to lust”, reported Bar and Bench.
On August 2020, the girl had left her house on the pretext of borrowing a book from a friend. She didn’t return home and when she couldn’t be traced, the family lodged an FIR. She was later traced in Bengaluru with the accused man and a criminal case was filed against him for rape and other offences under the POSCO Act.
However, the judge noted that the girl left home by her own will and has also admitted to a “love relationship” with the accused man.
“The applicant is also of a tender age of 26 years and out of love affair they come together. It seems that, the alleged incident of sexual relationship is out of the attraction between the two young persons and it is not the case that applicant has subjected the victim for a sexual assault out of lust,” the Bombay High Court said while granting bail to the man.
This raises a couple of very important questions – Is a 13-year-old really capable of making informed decisions, especially when it comes to sexual intimacy? Isn’t there a massive imbalance of power and maturity in this relationship, considering the man is twice the girl’s age? Is it okay for a 26-year-old to be in a romantic relationship with a 13-year-old in the first place?
Several people online raised such questions on social media. Here’s what some of them had to say:
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