However, under the new rule, juvenile couples with an age difference of less than or up to five years will not be prosecuted if both participants are over the age of 13.
Digital Desk: After unanimous support in the upper House, Japan's Parliament raised the age of consent from 13, one of the lowest in the world, to 16 on Friday. The historic reform also specifies the grounds for rape charges and makes voyeurism a crime.
Human rights organisations praised the reform, calling it a
significant step forward.
The age of consent, below which any sexual activity is deemed
rape, varies by country. The age of consent in India is 18, although it is 16
in the United Kingdom and 14 in Germany and China.
One human rights agency
told the press that this revision will send a message to society that sexual
violence by adults against toddlers is unacceptable.
However,
under the new rule, juvenile couples with an age difference of less than or up
to five years will not be prosecuted if both participants are over the age of
13.
The
recent reform agreed by Japan's parliament comes more than a century after it
was last updated in 1907.
Many
regional cities, however, implemented laws prohibiting "obscene acts"
with children, essentially raising the consent age to 18.
For
the first time in more than a century, Japan amended its penal code on sexual
offences in 2017, but human rights groups criticised the amendments as
"too little, too late."
In
2019, various groups protested across the country against the high percentage
of acquittals in cases of sexual assaults against minors.
Notably,
under the prior rule, prosecutors had to demonstrate that victims were disabled
as a result of assault and intimidation. Critics contended that the rule
effectively condemned victims for failing to resist sufficiently.
A
law ministry official told the media that amendments to the old rule were not
"meant to make it easier or harder" to get rape convictions, but
"will hopefully make court verdicts more consistent."
The
measure, which was enacted by the Japanese Parliament on Friday, also includes
a list of scenarios in which rape trials can be pursued. Victims may be under
the influence of drink or drugs, fearful, or attackers may take advantage of
their social status.
According
to law ministry officials, the recently passed bill also includes
"visitation request offences."
Anyone
who uses seduction, intimidation, or money to seduce youngsters under the age
of 16 for sexual reasons can face up to a year in prison or a fine of nearly Rs
3 lakh under the new law.
Sections
of the reforms also criminalise invasion of privacy for the first time. It was
previously governed by regional centre law.
If
someone is found guilty of secretly photographing intimate body parts,
innerwear, or indecent activities without a reasonable purpose, they would face
up to three years in prison or a fine of up to Rs 18 lakh.
Responding
to questioning from the media about the newly passed law, Japanese citizens
praised it. They did, however, express their dissatisfaction with the delay in
the creation of such laws.
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