If we start treating a child with someone under the age of 21 for the purposes of marriage, how far are we from denying them the right to be counted as adults in terms of sexual autonomy? The age of consent was 14 in 1925, 16 in 1940 and 18 in 2013. No girl under the age of 18 can be considered to consent to sexual relations under the current law. Raising the age of marriage and the age of consent has always been seen in India as a progressive measure to favour women. So, are we about to raise the age of consent to 21 as well? Anecdotal evidence already indicates that consensual sexual relations with girls under the age of 18 are largely criminalized at the request of families. Child marriage in India, under Indian law, is a marriage in which the woman is under the age of 18 or the man is under the age of 21. Most child marriages involve girls, many of whom are in poor socio-economic conditions. The Child Marriage Restriction Act, also known as the Sarda Act,[29] was a law restricting the practice of child marriage. It was promulgated on April 1, 1930 and covered the entire country, with the exception of a few princely states such as Hyderabad and Jammu and Kashmir. The Act sets the age of marriage at 18 for men and 14 for women. In 1949, after India`s independence, the minimum age for women was raised to 15 years and in 1978 to 18 years and 21 years for women and men.
The penalty for a man between the ages of 18 and 21 who married a child has become imprisonment for up to 15 days, a fine of 1,000 rupees, or both. The sentence for a man over the age of 21 has become imprisonment for up to three months and a possible fine. The penalty for anyone who performed or presided over a child marriage ceremony became imprisonment for up to three months and a possible fine, unless she could prove that the marriage she had performed was not a child marriage. The penalty imposed on the parent or guardian of a child in marriage has become imprisonment for up to three months or a possible fine. [30] It was amended in 1940 and 1978 to further increase the age of boys and girls. [29] This is also apparent from the NFHS 5 report, which mentions that 14.7% of all marriages in urban areas are child marriages, much better than in rural areas with 27%. The same report also mentions that the percentage of women falling into the category of teenage pregnancies in urban areas was much lower at 3.8%, compared to 7.9% in rural areas. This shows a clear gap between urban and rural areas, due to better education and health conditions in urban areas.
But there have been judicial interventions that have frowned upon interfaith marriages, and the BJP governments of the U.P. and Haryana have proposed measures to prevent what they call the “jihad of love.” Increased surveillance of privacy by the state and vigilante groups is a reality. Since December 2019, the federal government has raised the minimum legal age for the purchase of tobacco and vaping products from 18 to 21. [28] In states where recreational marijuana is legalized, the standard age is also 21, although younger people can get prescriptions or medical marijuana cards if they see a doctor. [29] The International Center for Women`s Studies will evaluate Apni Beti, Apna Dhan in 2012, when the first participants in the program will reach the age of 18, to determine whether the program, particularly the monetary incentive, motivated parents to postpone their daughters` marriage. “We have evidence that conditional cash transfer programs are very effective in keeping girls in school and vaccinating them, but we don`t yet have evidence that this strategy works to prevent marriages,” said Pranita Achyut, Apni Beti Program Manager, Apna Dhan. “If the Haryana approach proves useful, it could potentially be scaled up to make a significant difference in the lives of many girls – and not just in India. [10] In order to put women on an equal footing with men, the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to raise the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21.
According to Prime Minister Modi, raising the legal age of marriage will empower girls and help them build their careers. According to Irani, raising the age of marriage for women would help reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancy. Kriti Bharti, who heads a non-governmental organization called Saarthi, said the people of Rajasthan had found ways to circumvent the law. [28] People in Rajasthan hold a wedding ceremony at night, with only a small group of people attending the wedding, which reduces the likelihood that neighbors or relatives will alert the police. [28] Once the marriage is celebrated, the minor bride is sent to puberty with her husband. This way, even if the authorities have received a tip, families can simply deny any wrongdoing. Bharti explains that “in some parts of India, the authorities are not always interested and child marriage can be accepted as part of the culture. [28] A bride in India. There is a movement to get the government to raise the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21.
Rafiq Maqbool / AP Hide the caption The task force, led by Jaya Jaitly, also recommended that the government improve women`s access to schools and universities, including transportation from remote areas, vocational qualification and training, and sex education in schools. The law will be ineffective if these recommendations are not implemented, which should be a prerequisite for raising the age of marriage for girls, according to the Working Group`s report. The Law Commission of India proposed in 2018 to normalize the age of marriage to 18. She noted that there should be no distinction between spouses in terms of marital age, as they have equal rights. Legal support, she says, can help girls convince their parents to provide them with higher education and put them on the path to financial independence. In India, child marriage has always been a stumbling block for women. While it was endemic in all parts of the country, government rules and actions managed to remove it to some extent and sweep it under the rug, but it is still widespread. It continues, under the guise of a social marriage, which is not legalized until the girl reaches the age of 18. “Girls are seen as a heavier burden [because of the extra years they are supported before marriage]. Parents will say, `Why did we have to give birth to girls?` ” said one participant.
The states with the highest marriage rates for girls under 18 in 2009, according to a report by India`s Registrar General, were Jharkhand (14.1%), West Bengal (13.6%), Bihar (9.3%), Uttar Pradesh (8.9%) and Assam (8.8%). [4] According to the report, despite the sharp decline in child marriage rates since 1991, 7% of 18-year-old women in India were still married in 2009. UNICEF India has played an important role in highlighting Indian data on the prevalence of child marriage rates from its study in the 1990s. Parents usually arrange marriages in India, usually within the same religion or caste. Intercaste and interfaith couples who marry for love are often threatened with violence by their communities and even family members. Several activists have expressed skepticism about the decline in cases of child marriage in India. [28] They believe that “the UNICEF report may not reflect the reality on the ground and the numbers are unlikely to be as low as they appear in the report.” [28] They say data on child marriage is collected by local authorities, not UNICEF. In India, the government asks for the age of married couples as part of census data collected annually. However, as people know that child marriage is illegal in India, they are less likely to tell the authorities that they have broken the law. [28] Dhuwarakha Sriram, Child Protection Specialist with UNICEF India, says that “everyone knows that there is too little coverage in India – even UNICEF is aware of this.” According to Sriram, people in India are aware of the age of illegal marriage, so they are less likely to tell the truth, which leads to under-reporting. [28] In 2008, the Legal Affairs Committee proposed that the legal age of marriage for men and women be set at 18.
Even the United Nations General Assembly recommended it in 1989. Vinoj Manning, CEO of the Ipas Foundation for Development, says that if women can vote at 18, why do they have to choose their life partner at 21? “If you look at all the laws, 18 is the limit, why do we increase marriage to 21? This contradicts all existing legal rights in the country. From the age of consent to the right to choose an abortion, Indian laws have allowed women aged 18 and over to decide for themselves. Single women under the age of 18 need the consent of their legal guardian to have an abortion due to an unwanted pregnancy. The government should also review all of these laws before implementing this law,” Manning said. The women`s wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) said the introduction of a marriageable age would not produce the desired results. “These issues need to be addressed with public awareness and discussed more broadly,” said Rashtriya Sevika Samiti. “The in-laws might say that the government has already extended the age of marriage and now you need another year to complete your education. Therefore, the problem of marital pressure will remain the same regardless of the age of the family, and the case for improving gender equality through the new change remains hollow,” Tuteja said. Interestingly, in 2018, the Law Commission proposed that 18 should be the minimum legal age for marriage between men and women.
