Calcutta High Court on Thursday issued a list of guidelines for adolescent boys and girls urging them to control their sexual urges and also respect the dignity and bodily autonomy of the other gender. This development came as the apex court was hearing a teenager's request against his conviction in a rape case who was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a sessions court for having sex with his romantic partner, who reportedly was a minor.
About the case
According to the girl, she was in a relationship of her own will and had subsequently married him. She said that the age of consent for sex in India is 18 and their relationship was an offense.
Advertisement
Under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), consent given by a person aged below 18 does not quality to be considered as valid.Moreover, sexual intercourse with them amounts to rape.
Setting aside the sessions court’s verdict, a two-judge bench of Justices Chitta Ranjan Dash and Partha Sarathi Sen emphasized on the need of comprehensive sex education module in schools to avoid legal complications arising from sexual relations at a young age.
What did the bench say?
According to the bench, sex among adolescents is normal but arousal of such urge is dependent on action by the individual, maybe a man or woman.
Advertisement
The court urged girls to control their sexual urges and not give in to two minutes of pleasure.
"Control sexual urge/urges as in the eyes of the society she is the looser when she gives in to enjoy the sexual pleasure of hardly two minutes," the bench said in its judgement.
The bench also said that it is the duty of young girls to protect the "right to the integrity of her body, dignity and self-worth".
It added that boys should respect a girl's dignity and should train their minds to respect women.
"It is the duty of a male adolescent to respect the aforesaid duties of a young girl or woman, and he should train his mind to respect a woman, her self-worth, her dignity and privacy, and the right to autonomy of her body," the court said.
