Girl-Brides and Socio-Legal Change-Age of Consent Bill (1891) Controversy

Girl-Brides and Socio-Legal Change Age of Consent Bill (1891) Controversy Meera Kosambi The Age of Consent Bill enacted in 1891 formed a vital link in the movement for women's emancipation in the 19th century. The major women's issues of the time were abolition of child marriage, more humane treatment of widows and their right to remarry and education of women. The age of consent issue was integral to the child marriage question and the technical distinction between the two was often blurred in the actual controversy. The Consent Bill aimed to set a reasonable age limit below which a girl was considered to be incapable of giving consent to cohabitation and thus to ensure that her childhood was protected from physical coercion.