SEXUAL offences against children will now invite stricter punishment. On Thursday, the Union cabinet approved a legislation that makes sex with a person below 18 years illegal.
The sexual offences against children Bill will be placed in Parliament for its passage into law. It calls for tougher punishment for crimes against children, which could invite jail from three years to life imprisonment.
The most controversial clause of the legislation is doing away with the age of consent for sexual intercourse, which was 16- 18 years.
This means that sex with a person below the age of 18 years will become illegal. The provision is the result of a recommendation by a parliamentary panel, which had argued that under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, a person below 18 was treated as a minor.