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The Age of Consent Act, 1891, also Act X of 1891, was a legislation enacted in British India on 19 March 1891 which raised the age of consent 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 of the Governor-General of India in Calcutta.〔, pages 502–503.〕 It was debated the same day and opposed by council member Sir Romesh Chunder Mitter (from Bengal) on the grounds that it interfered with orthodox Hindu code, but supported by council member Rao Bahadur Krishnaji Lakshman Nulkar (from Bombay) and by the President of the council, the Governor-General and Viceroy Lord Lansdowne.〔 While an 1880 case in a Bombay high court by a child-bride, Rukhmabai, renewed discussion of such a law, the death of an eleven-year-old Bengali girl, Phulomnee, due to forceful intercourse by her 35-year-old husband in 1889, necessitated 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.〔 == Passage of legislation == In 1880, Rukhmabai, a 22-year-old woman was taken to Bombay high court by her husband Dadaji as she refused to recognise their marriage rights. She was married as a child to him and argued that their marriage is not binding after 11 years of separate living. She eventually lost the case.〔Bandyopādhyāẏa, Śekhara. ''From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India.'' Orient Blackswan, 2004. 237-238. ISBN 81-250-2596-0 ((Google book search ))〕 This trial is believed to be 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. ISBN 0-8147-7526-8〕 The death of an 11-year-old Bengali girl Phoolmonee after being brutally raped by her 35-year-old husband Hari Mohan Maitee in 1889 served as a catalyst for its legislation〔Van der Veer, Peter. ''Imperial Encounters: Religion and Modernity in India and Britain.'' Princeton, 2001. 96. ((Google book search ))〕〔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 age of consent for consummation from ten to twelve years.〔〔Karkar jkia, 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. ((Google book search ))〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Age of Consent Act, 1891」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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