Meghalaya HC: 16 years old capable of making decision on sex

Shillong: The Meghalaya High Court has said in a landmark judgment that a 16-year-old child is capable of making a conscious decision about sex.

The court made this observation while quashing an FIR of sexual assault on a minor under Sections 3 and 4 of the POCSO Act, Live Law reported.
A bench of Justice W. Diengdoh of the Meghalaya High Court was hearing a plea filed by a person seeking quashing of an FIR of an offense registered under POCSO, which claimed that the act was not a case of sexual assault but It was purely a consensual act as of the petitioner and the parties. Allegedly, the deceased were in love with each other.
“This Court, considering the physical and mental development of a young person of that age (referring to a minor of about 16 years of age), would reasonably consider such a person to be conscious of his own health. is competent to decide. – about the actual act of intercourse,” the court observed.
According to reports, the petitioner was employed in various households and was familiar with the alleged victim. It is alleged that they went to the petitioner’s uncle’s house where they had sex. The following day, the minor girl’s mother registered a case against the man under Section 363 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 3 and 4 of the POCSO Act, 2012.
The petitioner argued that the alleged incident does not amount to sexual assault as the victim clearly disclosed in her statement under Section 164 CrPC and during her testimony in court that she is the girlfriend of the petitioner.
The girl also confirmed that the sexual intercourse was with her consent and there was no force involved.
After a thorough examination of the petitioner’s submissions and previous legal precedents, the court determined that the affidavit of the next of kin was in support of the petitioner’s case, notwithstanding that she was a minor at about 16 years of age.
The Court referred to Madras High Court’s decision in Vijayalakshmi and another v. State Rep. Inspector of Police, All Women Police Station (2021) and concluded that considering the physical and mental development of persons of dependent age. Hey, that’s reasonable. To assume that they are capable of making informed decisions about sex.