Sexual Relationship With A Minor
The offence of sexual intercourse with a minor is regulated in Article 104 of the TPC. According to this regulation, it appears as a type of crime that is prosecuted with the complaint of the child after sexual intercourse with the consent of a child who has completed the age of fifteen but has not completed the age of eighteen, who is able to comprehend the legal meaning and consequences of the act without resorting to force, threat and fraud.
The penalty for the simple form of the offence is imprisonment from 2 years to 5 years and its investigation and prosecution is subject to complaint. No investigation is carried out unless the victim himself/herself is the complainant. If the victim’s parent or guardian is the complainant, the victim’s statement about this complaint should also be taken. This is because the law regulates consensual sexual intercourse as a right strictly bound to the person. The victim must exercise his/her right to complain within 6 months after the offence has been committed. If the complaint is not filed within this period, the right to complain disappears. Again, the statute of limitations for the basic form of the offence of sexual intercourse with a minor is 8 years.
It is possible to waive the complaint at the prosecution stage after the investigation or criminal case is opened. If the victim waives the complaint, a decision on non-prosecution is made at the investigation stage and the victim cannot use the right to complain about the same incident again. If the complaint is waived at the prosecution stage, which is the stage at which the criminal case is opened, the court may decide to dismiss the case.
It should be noted here that the act does not constitute an offence if both parties who have consensual sexual intercourse are under the age of 18. For the offence to occur, one of the parties must be over the age of 18. Sexual intercourse with a minor is not one of the offences subject to reconciliation. The task of judging this offence is in the Criminal Courts of First Instance.
The most important element of the offence of sexual intercourse with a minor is the valid consent of the victim. If there is no consent, the offence of sexual intercourse with a minor will not occur, but the offence of sexual abuse.
QUALITATIVE FORMS OF THE OFFENCE OF SEXUAL INTERCOURSE WITH A MINOR
The Offence Occurred Between the Victim and the Person Prohibited from Marriage
In the event that the offence is committed between descendants and ascendants; between siblings; between aunts, uncles, aunts, uncles and uncles and their nephews and between one of the spouses and the other’s ascendants or descendants, even if the marriage that created the kinship of in-laws has ended, and between the adopter and the adoptee or between one of them and the other’s descendants and spouse, a qualified case will be in question. In this qualified case, the penalty will be determined between ten years and fifteen years.
The offence is committed by the person who undertakes the pre-adoption care of the child to be adopted or who has the obligation of protection, care and supervision within the framework of the foster family relationship
In this case, persons who are obliged to take care and supervise the child commit the aforementioned offence. Therefore, there is a qualified form of the offence. In this case, as stated above, a penalty between ten years and fifteen years will be determined.
No complaint is required for the investigation and prosecution of the qualified forms of the offence of sexual intercourse with a minor and this offence is investigated ex officio by the prosecutor’s office. In case of qualified forms of the offence of sexual intercourse with a minor, the court in charge is the Assize Court.
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