Report No. 172

3.9. Views of "Sakshi" for defining 'consent' considered.-

Lastly, we may refer to a request of Sakshi to insert the definition of "consent" for the purpose of the aforesaid sections. We are however of the opinion that no such definition is called for at this stage, for the reason that the said expression has already been interpreted and pronounced upon by the courts in India in a good number of cases. Reference in this behalf may be made to page 700 of the Commentary on IPC by Justice Jaspal Singh (First Edition 1998) where it is stated, on the basis of the decisions of the Madras, Punjab and Nagpur High Courts, that "consent implies the exercise of a free and untrammelled right to forbid or withhold what is being consented to; it always is a voluntary and conscious acceptance of what is proposed to be done by another and concurred in by the former".