Japanese Parliament approves adulthood age at 18
Tokyo, June 13 : The Japanese Parliament on Wednesday approved a bill to lower the age of adulthood from 20 to 18 years, a measure aimed at encouraging the participation of young people in the society in the face of a rapidly ageing population.
The measure, set to come into effect in April 2022, would allow young people over the age of 18 to marry without parental consent, although the legal age for drinking alcohol, smoking or gambling would continue to be 20, Efe news reported.
Men above 18 and women over the age of 16 were already allowed to get married in Japan with parental consent, but the new measure eliminates this clause and also raises the legal marriageable age for women to 18.
The new law is in line with the one already approved by the Parliament, or Diet, in June 2015, which reduced the minimum voting age from 20 to 18, the largest electoral reform in the country since 1945, putting it at par with most other democratic countries.
Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa, following her vote in the Diet's Upper House, highlighted the significance of the new law that will empower those above 18 years of age to make their own life choices.
There will also be reviews of 22 other laws related to nationality and the issuance of passports.
The Diet last week also approved an amendment in the consumer contract law to protect vulnerable young consumers from economic fraud, so that transactions in which the seller exerts some kind of pressure on the consumer -- even if they are above 18 -- could be cancelled.
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Manipur: Autopsy reports reveal multiple bullet wounds, lacerations on bodies of 3 killed in Jiribam
Imphal, Nov 24: The autopsy reports of three of the six persons killed in Manipur's Jiribam district by suspected Kuki militants revealed multiple bullet injuries and lacerations on various parts of their bodies, officials said on Sunday.
The report of three-year-old Chingkheinganba Singh showed that his right eye was missing and he had a bullet wound in the skull, they said.
The report also noted cut wounds, fractures in the chest, and lacerations on the forearm and other parts of his body. Signed on November 17, the report indicated that the child's body was in a "state of decomposition", they added.
The report said the cause of death would be pending until the receipt of the chemical analysis report of viscera from the Directorate of Forensic Sciences in Guwahati, officials said.
The post-mortem examinations were conducted at the Silchar Medical College Hospital (SMCH) in Assam's Cachar district.
The report also detailed the injuries sustained by his mother, L Heitonbi Devi (25), who had "three bullet wounds in the chest and one in the buttock", officials said.
According to the report, her body was brought to SMCH on November 18, around seven days after her death, they said.
The child's grandmother, Y Rani Devi (60), suffered five bullet wounds -- one in the skull, two in the chest, one in the abdomen, and one in an arm, officials said.
Her body was brought to SMCH on November 17, at least three to five days after her death, the report noted.
The autopsy reports also showed deep lacerations on many parts of the bodies of the two women.
The cause of Rani Devi's death is also yet to be known, awaiting the chemical analysis report of the viscera, officials said.
The post-mortem reports of one more woman and two children are still pending, they said.
The six persons belonging to the Meitei community had gone missing from a relief camp in Jiribam after a gunfight between security forces and suspected Kuki-Zo militants that resulted in the deaths of 10 insurgents on November 11.
Their bodies were found in the Jiri river in Jiribam district, and the nearby Barak river in Assam's Cachar over the next few days.
