The penal code in section 138 and 139 makes it a crime for any person to have sex with girls under sixteen years and women and girls who are imbeciles or idiots. The penalty or punishment for defiling a girl who is under sixteen years is imprisonment for life. The punishment for attempting to defile a girl below sixteen years is imprisonment for fourteen years, just like for defiling or attempting to defile an imbecile or idiot. In relation to idiots and imbeciles the alleged offender must have known at the time of committing the offence that the woman or girl was an idiot or imbecile. In both cases it is not a defence to argue that the girl under sixteen or the imbecile or idiot consented to the sexual act.
Consent is immaterial.
It is the policy of the law to protect young girls and girls and women who are of low intelligence. Parents, guardians of young girls and the general public are advised to immediately report such cases to the nearest police station. Young girls must not be washed before a medical doctor examines them or else the evidence will be tampered with. Victims of defilement must go or be taken to the hospital immediately after the incident. In cases where young girls consent it may not be easy to detect that a crime is or has been committed because they will not themselves report the matter.