The Age of Consent in India
Historical and Contemporary Dimensions of Female Agency
Abstract
At its core, the question of the age of consent is tied to questions of responsibility. It revolves around determining who the law recognizes as a responsible legal actor, and at what age can someone meaningfully act upon their agency in decisions concerning their sexuality. Analyzing the conception of female agency in arguments for and against a higher age of consent is, therefore, essential as it is linked to a broader societal understanding of gender roles and rights. It illustrates the balance that legal frameworkers intend to strike to protect women from exploitation and harm, while also respecting their sexual autonomy. This article aims to examine how both proponents and opponents of the age of consent controversy in India, both in the late nineteenth century and in contemporary debates, conceive female agency. To do so, it relies on secondary data, such as books, research articles, government documents and reports.
References
Adil, M. (2023) Age of consent, marriage and the POCSO Act, The Leaflet. https://theleaflet.in/age-of-consent-marriage-and-the-pocso-act/.
Anagol-McGinn, P. (1992). The Age of Consent Act (1891) Reconsidered: Women's Perspectives and Participation in the Child-Marriage Controversy in India. South Asia Research, 12(2), 100–118. https://doi.org/10.1177/026272809201200202.
Dadaji Bhikaji v. Rukhmabai, ILR 9BOM529, Bombay High Court, decided 21 September 1885. https://indiankanoon.org/doc/623704/.
Deshpande, S. (2023). Balance Between Protecting Teens and Giving Autonomy: HC: Mumbai. The Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/balance-between-protecting-teens-giving-autonomy-hc/articleshow/101742187.cms .
Engels, D. (1983). The Age of Consent Act of 1891: Colonial Ideology in Bengal. South Asia Research, 3(2), 107-131. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/026272808300300205.
Forbes, G. H. (1979). Women and Modernity: The Issue of Child Marriage in India. Women's Studies International Quarterly, 2(4), 407-419. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229375940_Women_and_modernity_The_issue_of_child_marriage_in_India.
Goswami, R. (2010). Child Marriages in India: Mapping the Trajectory of Legal Reforms.https://sanhati.com/excerpted/2207/.
Heimsath, C. H. (1964). The Provincial Social Reform Movements in Bengal, Bombay and Madras. In Indian Nationalism and Hindu Social Reform. Princeton University Press. 72-112 https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781400877799-006/html?lang=en.
Heimsath, Charles H. (1962). The Origin and Enactment of the Indian Age of Consent Bill, 1891. The Journal of Asian Studies, 21(4), 491–504. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-asian-studies/article/abs/origin-and-enactment-of-the-indian-age-of-consent-bill-1891/B785B4538F8C39E6353457068AE83923.
Jaswal, G. M. (2007, January). The Age of Consent Bill: Response and Reactions in the Hindi Belt. In Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. Indian History Congress. (68) 989-1000 https://www.jstor.org/stable/44147905.
Kosambi, M. (1988). Women, Emancipation and Equality: Pandita Ramabai’s Contribution to Women’s Cause. Economic and Political Weekly, 23(44), WS38–WS49. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4393987.
Kosambi, M. (1991). Girl-Brides and Socio-Legal Change: Age of Consent Bill (1891) Controversy. Economic and Political Weekly, 26(31/32), 1857–1868. https://www.epw.in/journal/1991/31-32/special-articles/girl-brides-and-socio-legal-change-age-consent-bill-1891.
Malabari, B. M. (1887). Infant Marriage and Enforced Widowhood in India: Being a Collection of Opinions, for and Against. " Voice of India" Printing Press. https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupid?key=olbp75439.
Ministry of Women & Child Development. (2012, June 20). The Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, 2012. The Gazette of India. https://wcd.nic.in/sites/default/files/POCSO%20Act%2C%202012.pdf.
Pande, I. (2012). Coming of Age: Law, Sex and Childhood in Late Colonial India. Gender & History, 24(1), 205-230. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0424.2011.01676.x.
Pande, Ishita (2013). ‘Listen to the Child’: Law, Sex, and the Child Wife in Indian Historiography. History Compass, 11(9), 687–701. https://doi.org/10.1111/hic3.12077.
Petroni, S., Das, M., & Sawyer, S. M. (2019). Protection versus rights: age of marriage versus age of sexual consent. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 3(4), 274-280. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30528681/.
Pitre, A., & Lingam, L. (2021). Age of consent: challenges and contradictions of sexual violence laws in India. Sexual and reproductive health matters, 29(2), 1878656. https://doi.org/10.1080/26410397.2021.1878656.
Ranade, M.G. (1885). Selections from Records.
Rao, P. V. (2008). Educating women and non-Brahmins as' loss of nationality': Bal Gangadhar Tilak and the nationalist agenda in Maharashtra. http://www.cwds.ac.in/OCPaper/EducatingWomen-Parimala.pdf .
Sagade, J. V. (2003). Socio-legal and human rights dimensions of child marriage in India (pp. 2350-2350). UMI. https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/119293.
Sarkar, T. (2000). A Prehistory of Rights: The Age of Consent Debate in Colonial Bengal. Feminist Studies, 26(3), 601–622. https://www.proquest.com/docview/233179573?sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals.
Satish Kumar Jayantilal Dabgar v. State of Gujarat, (2015) SCC OnLine SC 198, decided on 10.03.2015 https://indiankanoon.org/doc/161600699/#:~:text=Even%20when%20there%20is%20a,committed%20the%20offence%20of%20rape.
Vivek Kumar @ Sanju and Anjali @ Afsana v. The State, Crl. M.C. No. 3073-74 of 2006, High Court of Bihar, decided 23 February 2007. https://indiankanoon.org/doc/390627/.
Copyright (c) 2024 Hitishaa Goyal
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright for this article is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
