NEW DELHI: From raising the age of sexual consent for girls from 15 to 16, irrespective of marital status, to lowering the marriageable age for men to 18 from the existing 21, to letting fathers have a share of children's wealth who have died without a will, the Law Commission on Wednesday gave a slew of recommendations to amend the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, Hindu Succession Act and the Hindu Marriage Act. Briefing media of the reports submitted to law minister H R Bhardwaj on Wednesday, the commission's part-time member Keerti Singh said that the panel has recommended letting the father of a dead property owner have a share of his children's property, For this, the report has made a case for treating the mother and father as one unit. Right now, only the mother gets a share in the property of children. This marks one of those rare instances where a recommendation has been made for a change in the 50-year-old Hindu Succession Act in favour of the male. The panel has also recommended that child marriages below 18 years should be prohibited and marriages below the age of 16 can be voided by mutual agreement between both parties. In other words, Singh said, "We have said the minimum age of marriage for both boys and girls should be 18." Admitting that the move would have the effect of bringing down the minimum age of marriage for men to 18 from existing 21, Singh explained, "There should be parity in the minimum age of both boys and girls. The commission is not advocating that 18 years is a desirable age for marriage but only minimum age." The commission's recommendation seeking increase in the age of sexual consent from 15 to 16 emanates from the shocking case of 11-year-old bride Phulmonee, who died after sex with her husband. She had suffered rupture of vagina since her husband had forced sex with Phulmonee. Later, she died resulting in a huge public outcry. Singh said, "Right now the age of sexual consent for women is 15. But a married woman below 15 can have consensual sex. We are recommending there should be no distinction between married and unmarried woman and that the age of sexual consent be increased to 16. If a husband makes love to his wife below 16, even if consensual, he can be held guilty of rape." The commission has suggested deletion of a portion of section 375 of IPC.
