Criminal Amendment Act 2013 and Issue of Age

Abstract

The Criminal Amendment Act 2013 has redefined crime and has labeled some activities criminal.  This seems appropriate with changing sensitivity of people to issues like privacy, exploitation and  helplessness. There is a definite aggression towards preventing crime against women, which is evident in  the Act. One aspect although which seems unjustified and out of modern context is enhancing the age for  consent of sexual intercourse by women. With more freedom and opportunities for self-exploration  available to adolescents and greater acceptance of western culture, there seems to be greater  acceptability for physically intimate associations amongst the two genders. Consensual sexual  intercourse is getting commoner, even in the absence of a formal relationship.  In this context, increasing the age of consent for sexual intercourse by women puts any sexual  relationship before the age of 18 years of the female in category of a crime and the male as accused for  the crime. It seems to be unfair and holds a disproportionate gender bias. The relevance of age of  maturity, its origin, acceptance in the present scenario and its consequences discussed in this paper.