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Government withdraws Bill to reduce consent age for sex to 14 years
By Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera
Parliament, April 1 (Daily Mirror)- The government today withdrew the Penal Code (Amendment) Bill which calls to reduce the consent age for sex to 14 years.
Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told Parliament that the government was withdrawing the Bill and said that an amendment which could be agreeable to all interested parties will be presented to Parliament in the future.
The Minister said the recommendation on the Bill was presented to the Justice Ministry by senior President's Counsels, other Attorneys and professionals after studying for five years.
He said the amendment was proposed due to a practical issue where the girl and the boy, who had sexual relationships on consent over a romantic relationship, had to face.
“Rape cases are usually filed on matters where the girls between 14 and 16 years have been raped by boys of 16 to 22 years. When such cases are taken up before Magistrate's Courts, the girl has reached maturity and some of them had already married the said boy. However, the boy has to be sentenced to mandatory 10 years in jail according to the current law. This ruins the life of both the girl and the boy,” he said.
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