Child Marriage Prohibition Amendment Bill 2021
Women's Marriage Age Is Raised
The cabinet has approved a plan to raise the minimum marriage age for women from 18 to 21 years old. It is said that this will lead to women's empowerment. So, why are some people critical of it? Is it beneficial or detrimental? What are the advantages and disadvantages of child marriage?
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Background
Prime Minister Modi mentioned the notion in his Independence Day speech last year.
It is based on recommendations given to NITI AAYOG in December 2020 by the Centre's task force, led by Jaya Jaitly, which was formed to look into concerns such as the age of motherhood, the imperatives of lowering MMR (Maternal Mortality Rate), nutritional levels, and other related topics.
Background Information
The United Nations adopted the Convention on the Age of Marriage and Marriage Registration, which entered into force in December 1964.
It requires states to:-Specify a minimum marriage age Prohibit legal acceptance of any marriage that does not have both parties' complete and voluntary consent. The Sarda Act, 1929, later renamed the Child Marriage Restraint Act (CMRA), 1929, established the minimum age for marriage in India. It was the first law to prohibit child marriage in India, with the exception of Jammu & Kashmir.
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It forbade the marriage of girls under the age of 15 and boys under the age of 18.
The law was changed in 1978 to raise the minimum marriage age to 18 years for girls and 21 years for boys. This is the case even under the new Prohibition of Child Marriages Act (PCMA), 2006, which replaced the CMRA. According to the law, a marriage between a boy aged 18-21 years and a girl under the age of 18 years entailed up to 15 days in prison and a fine of one thousand rupees.
Around 100 years ago, in 1917, a group of women formed the Women's Indian Association. An organization that advocates for women's issues. Because it was under British administration, the social issues they thought essential were brought to the British Indian government. Harbilas Sharda sponsored a measure to prohibit child marriages in 1929, on Gandhi's recommendation. The Women's Association protested on the streets in its support. Placards stating that anyone opposing the Sharda Bill will be looked down upon by the entire globe.
As a result of this pressure, the British India Parliament approved the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1939.
The minimum marriage age for girls was set at 14 years under this act. And for boys over the age of 18.
However, the minimum marriage age for girls was raised from 14 to 15 years in 1929. The age was later raised from 15 to 18 years old in 1978. In the same year, the legal drinking age for men was raised from 18 to 21. The most significant alteration occurred in 2006. Child Marriage Prohibition Act of 2006. This was the first time that child brides had the option of having their marriage annulled.
They could call off their child marriage. Prior to this, they had to go through divorce after the child marriage. They no longer needed to divorce since if someone was a victim of child marriage, they could go to the authorities and have their marriage annulled.
Without the need for a divorce. Every child marriage is voidable, according to Section 3 of the statute. However, it was subject to a condition. This rule had a two-year time limit after reaching marriage age. That is, if someone was a victim of child marriage void, they could do so for up to 20 years after reaching the legal marriage age.
It was 21+2, up to 23 years of age for men, and 18+2, up to 20 years of age for women. Once that age limit was reached, the child marriage could not be annulled, which was a major LOOPHOLE in the legislation.
Child marriages were not immediately null and void. They could have been avoided. They could be declared null and void. In several circumstances, child marriages were declared null and void. As mentioned in Section 12 of the act, if the child's parents or guardians are not present at the wedding. Then it would be null and void. However, in the majority of situations, they were avoidable. They had to file an application to have it declared void.
According to the most recent data, India's total fertility rate has already fallen below 2.0, thus there is no need to be concerned. Their main goal was to address concerns concerning motherhood. As an example, consider the maternal mortality rate. Also, to limit the number of deaths during childbirth. They gathered comments from 16 universities and spoke with 15 non-governmental organizations before deciding to raise the marriage age. However, the underlying issue here is clearly child marriage.
When young girls are married off, their chances of dying during childbirth increase. The question therefore becomes, why are some condemning this decision?
There are primarily two points of contention:
Priyanka Chaturved, a Rajya Sabha MP, raised the first objection. She tweeted a newspaper clip depicting the names given to daughters in some parts of India. 'Dhapu' means Fedup, while 'Ramghani' means "O Lord, that's enough." 'Antima'as in I hope this is the last girl kid Faltu' or ineffective.
Obviously, this is reflected in some parts of the country. What society thinks of girls and women. According to Priyanka Chaturvedi, there is a need for societal transformation and that legislative intervention would be ineffective. She stated that commercials consume 79% of the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao budget. Furthermore, the government is doing little on the ground.
Opinion
This objection, in my opinion, is a logical error. False Binary Logical Fallacy occurs when two unrelated objects are compared. I agree that the government is inappropriate to spend so much money on advertisements. But how does it relate to this decision? It is not possible that if the marriage age had not been raised, society would have changed.
In reality, the task committee on whose recommendations this measure is based has made additional recommendations for bringing about cultural transformation. As an example, boosting women's access to schools and colleges. Making it easier for women to get to school and college. As well as an emphasis on skill development and business training, the committee has stated that until the other items are executed, this bill would be ineffective.
Let me now address the second objection. The second concern is about freedom of choice.
According to CPM lawmaker Sitaram Yechury, when a woman reaches the age of 18, she gains the right to vote and is recognized as an adult, but when it comes to marriage, she is treated as a juvenile. How is that possible?
Similarly, AIMIM Chief Owaisi stated that an 18-year-old woman can pick the country's Prime Minister, create a business, and sign contracts, but she cannot marry of her own free decision.
According to some who have raised this point of contention, the legal age of marriage for both men and women should be 18 years. A similar suggestion was made in a 2018 Law Commission Report. That men and women should be permitted to marry at the age of 18. In fact, if we look at the global trend, we may observe a similar phenomenon in other countries. According to the United Nations, men can marry at the age of 18 in 180 countries, while women can marry at the age of 18 in 158 countries.
Here's a significant question: why wasn't the marriage age for men lowered to 18? So could it be 18 for both? Instead, they opted to do the opposite; the age for women was raised to 21. To know the answer to these concerns, we must first comprehend the country's problem with child marriage.
According to 2019 estimates, more than 1.5 million Indian girls were married when they were under the age of 18. When we consider the global number of child brides. India accounts for one-third of all child brides. According to 2019-21 NFHS data, 23% of marriages in India are child marriages. Child marriages account for more than one-fifth of all marriages in India. Does this imply that a large number of people are breaking the law?
TILL 2017
For girls, the consent age for physical relations was 18 years. However, the same age was just 15 years for a child bride. So marital rape was permissible in a child marriage. An NGO called Independent Thought had filed a petition in court regarding this. To complain about this, and happily, our Supreme Court acted on it.
The Supreme Court's bench of Justices Madan Lokur and Deepak Gupta criminalized marital rape for girls under the age of 18. But the most important point here is, why isn't a simple law formed? That if a minor under the age of 18 gets married off, it is not permissible under any circumstances.
Not only that, but this, in my opinion, should be criminalized. When a child marriage occurs, the parents on both sides who consent to the child marriage should be punished in some way.
In theory, sections 9, 10, and 11 of the 2006 Act contain provisions for levying penalties. Imprisonment for up to two years and a fine of up to one lakh rupees But how would this law work since the Act also states that child marriages are voidable but not instantly void? That is why, even today, 23% of all marriages are child marriages.
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