The Age of Consent Act, 1891, also known as Act X of 1891, was a legislation enacted in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

on 19 March 1891 which raised the

age of consent The age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to Human sexual activity, sexual acts. Consequently, an adult who engages in sexual activity with a person younger than the age of consent is un ...

for sexual intercourse for all girls, married or unmarried, from ten to twelve years in all jurisdictions, its violation subject to criminal prosecution as rape. The act was an amendment of the Indian Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure, Section 375, 1882, ("Of Rape"), and was introduced as a bill on 9 January 1891 by Sir Andrew Scoble in the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

of the

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., pages 502–503. It was debated the same day and opposed by council member Sir Romesh Chunder Mitter (from

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

) on the grounds that it interfered with orthodox Hindu code, but supported by council member Rao Bahadur Krishnaji Lakshman Nulkar (from

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

) and by the President of the council, the Governor-General and Viceroy Lord Lansdowne. While an 1887 case in a

high court of a child-bride

Rukhmabai Rukhmabai (22 November 1864 – 25 September 1955) was an Indian physician and feminist. She is best known for being one of the first practicing women doctors in colonial India (the first being Dr. Kadambini Ganguly who started practicing in ...

renewed discussion of such a law, it was the death of a ten-year-old Bengali girl, Phulmoni Dasi, due to forceful intercourse by her 35-year-old husband in 1889 that drove intervention by the British.Sarkar, Tanika.
A Prehistory of Rights: The Age of Consent Debate in Colonial Bengal, Feminist Studies
" 2000. The act was passed in 1891. It received support from Indian reformers such as Behramji Malabari and women social organisations. The law was never seriously enforced and it is argued that the real effect of the law was reassertion of Hindu patriarchal control over domestic issues as a nationalistic cause. In 1884, Rukhmabai, a 20-year-old woman was taken to Bombay high court by her husband Bhikaji after she refused to live with him. Having married him at the age of 11 years, never having

consummated The consummation of a marriage, or simply consummation, is the first officially credited act of sexual intercourse following marriage. In many traditions and statutes of civil or religious law, the definition usually refers to penile–vaginal p ...

the marriage and having lived separately for nearly 8 years she refused to move back with him. She was ordered by the court to live with her husband or face a six month imprisonment. She refused to comply and the rising costs of the trial forced Bhikaji to withdraw the case in July 1888 upon a settlement of 2000 rupees.Bandyopādhyāẏa, Śekhara. ''From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India.'' Orient Blackswan, 2004. 237-238.
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This trial was one of the precursors for the passage of this legislation.George Robb and Nancy Erber, eds. ''Disorder in the Court: Trials and Sexual Conflict at the Turn of the Century''. New York University Press, 1999. 33-35. In 1889, the death of a 10-year-old married Hindu girl, Phulmoni Dasi, after being brutally raped by her 35-year-old husband, Hari Mohan Maitee, served as a catalyst for its legislation.Van der Veer, Peter. ''Imperial Encounters: Religion and Modernity in India and Britain.'' Princeton, 2001. 96.
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Majumdar, Rochona.
Silent no longer
" ''India Today'' 26 October 2007. Hari Mohan Maitee was acquitted on charges of rape, but found guilty on causing death inadvertently by a rash and negligent act. A committee consisting of influential British and Anglo-Indian statesmen established in London had submitted recommendations to the colonial government including the change in age of consent. The law was signed on 19 March 1891 by the government of Lord Lansdowne raising the

for consummation from ten to twelve years.Karkarjkia, Rustomji Pestonji. ''India: Forty Years of Progress and Reform, Being a Sketch of the Life and Times of Behramji M. Malabari.'' H. Frowde, 1896. 128.
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Support

Behramji Malabari, a

Parsi The Parsis or Parsees () are a Zoroastrian ethnic group in the Indian subcontinent. They are descended from Persian refugees who migrated to the Indian subcontinent during and after the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century, w ...

reformer and a journalist from Bombay advocated for this legislation. He published his messages in "Notes on Infant marriage and enforced widowhood" in 1884. Although a Parsi, he claimed to be as critical of Hindu customs and domestic practices as the British. Though women were not consulted for determining the effect of child-marriage, women in Bombay presidency including Rukhmabai and Pandita Ramabai made a cogent case for the ban on child-marriage in their magazines and social reform organisations. Anandi Gopal Joshi, a Marathi woman who also happened to be the first female medical doctor in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

advocated interference of the

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Government in child marriage.

Opposition

The Bill was opposed by many orthodox leaders who believed it as an interference in the

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

religion.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak Bal Gangadhar Tilak (; born Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (pronunciation: eʃəʋ ɡəŋɡaːd̪ʱəɾ ʈiɭək; 23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), endeared as Lokmanya (IAST: ''Lokamānya''), was an Indian nationalist, teacher, and an independence ...

opposed the bill stating: The Bill was also opposed by revivalist nationalists who were against any colonial interference.

Notes

References

{{Reflist Age of Consent Act Sex laws in India Legal history of India Acts of the Imperial Legislative Council 1891 in British law Age of consent Child marriage in India Repealed Acts of the Parliament of India Marriage law in India