The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Varkala finds incongruity in IPC sections

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Varkala finds incongruity in IPC sections

Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The former Speaker Varkala Radhakrishnan has called for an amendment to Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code relating to rape and sex age of girls before taking up changes in the provisions of Section 377 concerning gay and lesbian sex. In a statement here on Saturday, Mr. Radhakrishnan pointed out the incongruities in the two sections of the IPC and the Child Marriage Prohibition Act in the context of the Delhi High Court’s verdict.

Stating that the verdict would lead to a few legal problems, Mr. Radhakrishnan, a former MP, said that according to Section 375, the sex age limit for girls is 16 years, while the Child Marriage Prohibition Act, passed by the 14th Lok Sabha, had fixed the marriage age of girls as 18 years.

The demand for increasing the sex age from 16 to 18 years had been long standing and there had been several instances when the accused persons escaped punishment under Sub-Section 6 of Section 375 relating to the sex age of girls, he said.

The Delhi Court had directed the government to amend Section 377 of IPC as it violated the fundamental rights of gays, lesbians and transgender people, but the government would have to face quite a few hurdles while attempting to do so.

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