Paper short abstract:

The paper examines the intersections and divergences in colonial and post colonial discourses with regard to women and children by interrogating the arguments made at when increasing in the age of consent was being debated.

Paper long abstract:

When the Indian Penal Code came into force in 1860, the age of consent to sexual intercourse was set at ten years of age. In 1891, the first contentious amendment was made, raising the age of consent to twelve. This was raised to fourteen and sixteen in 1925 and 1949 respectively. In 2012, it was raised once again to eighteen under the aegis of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.

The paper examines the manner in which the term 'age of consent' was understood in 1925 and 2012 by mapping the arguments which were made for and against the amendments. It also engages with other scholarship on the age of consent debates and analyses its findings. It argues that the manner in which age of consent is understood not only has important ramifications for those directly in conflict with the law but also serves as an interesting marker of the understandings of women and children's agency and sexuality. It does this by using perspectives gleaned from similar questions pertaining to issues of women's agency in the face of legal interventions and to show the intersections and divergences in colonial and post colonial discourses with regard to women and children.