The Law Commission has recommended that the age for sexual consent should be raised from 15 years to 16 years for girls, regardless of marriage.

Thus, even in cases where an under-16 girl elopes, marries a lover and has sex with her ‘husband’, the girl's ‘husband’ cannot escape punishment by claiming that he made love with his ‘wife’.

To remove confusion in such cases, the Commission wants deletion of a portion of section 375 of the IPC under which a man having sex with his wife over 15 years cannot be hauled up for rape.

Elaborating on the Commission's proposals on issues related to child marriages, the Law Commission's member Kirti Uppal said the panel has proposed that the minimum age for sexual consent should be raised from 15 years to 16 years, regardless of marriage.

Thus, if the proposal is accepted by the government, even consensual sex would invite punishment for those men who have sex with girls under 16 years of age.

Even those men who have sex with their minor ‘wives’, aged below 16 years, could be booked under the law. Till now, having sex with a minor ‘wife’ aged below 15 years is punishable under Section 375 of the IPC and there is no punishment for love-making with a ‘wife’ above 15 years.

The recommendations on girl's age for consensual sex form part of Commission's proposal to amend the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 and other allied laws.

A report on the subject was today submitted to Law and Justice Minister H R Bhardwaj by Commission Chairman Justice A R Lakshmanan and member-secretary D P Sharma.

The Commission observed that there was no rationale for stipulating different ages for consent to sexual intercourse for a minor bride and for other minor girls.

Before recommending an upward revision in girls' minimum age for consensual sex, the Law Commission studied the contradictions that exist between the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 and Section 375 IPC.

It examined whether the Act addressed all the concerns related to child abuse, health and human rights.

The panel studied the Convention On The Rights Of The Child, which makes it obligatory for states to protect children from all forms of violence, abuse and neglect.

An in-depth study was conducted into a case related to an 11-year-old bride, Phulmonee, who died after sex with her husband. Phulmonee had died of haemorrhage from a rupture of vagina caused by her husband who had forced sex on her.

This minor bride's death had galvanised public opinion for raising the age of consent, said Commission's member-secretary Sharma.