Abstract

On august 15 2020 on the eve of the independence day honorable prime minister mr modi
addressed the nation from the rum parts of the red fort mr modi declared that his government is
considering raising the minimum legal age of marriage for women why mr modi said when a girl
child is married at an early age she suffers from malnutrition the intention of the government is
based on a belief and the belief is this if we raise the minimum legal age of marriage for girls what
will happen what will be the consequence it will improve the health and the nutritional standard of
women not just women it will also improve the health and the nutritional standard of infants as well
before prime minister modi's speech a committee was set up by the government of india headed by
former president of the samatha party miss jaya jaitley this committee was tasked to re-look at the
minimum legal age of marriage for girls the committee met a lot of stakeholders university students
prominent ngos and others and submitted report to the prime minister's office as well as the union
ministry of women and child development this month the union cabinet cleared a bill a proposal and
the proposal is to raise the minimum legal age of marriage for girls from existing 18 to 21.

Background

let's look at the child marriage restraint act of 1929 we were still the colony of the british one
individual mr harbillas sharda introduced a bill in the imperial legislative council why to restrain child
marriage according to this law the minimum age of marriage for women should be 14 and for that of
men or boys should be 18. but this law could not be implemented why because the british
government decided not to implement this law because we don't want to affect the sensibilities of
the radical criminalists after the independence the year was 1949 the minimum legal age of marriage
for girls was enhanced to 15 for that of boys it remained 18. the year was 1978. when this minimum
age of marriage for girls it was increased it was enhanced to 18 and that of boys it remained it was
enhanced to 21. this was the child marriage restraint act of 1929 but then the year was 2006. the
year was 2006 and this sharda act it was replaced by prohibition of child marriage act and this law
was passed in the year 2006. why because the focus of the government shifted from restraint to
prohibition total prohibition of child marriages and it is according to this law that the minimum legal
age of marriage for girls is 18 and for that of boys is 21. but now you might be asking why is there a
difference why is the minimum legal age of marriage for girls 18 lower than 21 which is the minimum
legal age of marriage for boys because there is a belief a perception the women the girls they
mature faster and if they mature faster they should be married off at an early age boys they are
always immature it is this law which is sought to be amended that is why we call it prohibition of
child marriage amendment bill 2021 and it is this law which seeks to amend the 2006 law to enhance
the minimum legal age of marriage for girls to 21 so that we bring about a parity so that the
minimum legal age of marriage for both boys as well as girls is 21 but there can be a question on
your mind will this law when it is passed will this law also override other personal laws because we
do not have a uniform civil code in this country different religious communities are governed
differently when it comes to their personal laws personal laws related to marriage divorce
inheritance adoption they are dealt with separately yes this law will override all these personal laws
because look at the text of this law the text of this proposal the text of this bill notwithstanding
anything contrary or inconsistent mentioned anywhere else whether it is the christian act parsi act
hindu marriage act muslim personal law shariat application act special marriage act whatever law we
have in this country this bill will override all those provisions which means doesn't matter whether a
particular religion believes that minimum legal age is 14 or 16 or puberty doesn't matter this law will
override all the personal laws when it comes to marriage that means minimum legal age of marriage
for girls as well as boys will remain the same which is 21 if this bill is passed by the parliament this
bill it was referred to the parliamentary standing committee this bill is currently pending now.

Arguments in favor

our constitution believes in equality article 14 talks about equality before law not just equality our
constitution believes that there should be no prohibit no there should be no discrimination our
constitution believes and guarantees prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of sex article 15 of
the constitution says the state shall not discriminate against any citizen only on the grounds of
religion race caste sex place or birth or any of them when there can be no discrimination only on the
grounds of sex why is it that minimum legal age of boys is 21 and that of women that of girls is 18.
this discrimination will end if this bill is passed by the parliament i told you the reason what was the
reason why minimum legal age of marriage for girls is lesser than that of boys and i told you one
reason is that girls mature faster or that's the belief the girls mature faster than the boys but there's
a hidden patriarchal mindset here for a boy the minimum legal age for marriage is 21. what is the
idea the idea is that this boy is the caretaker of the family this boy provides wealth provides
opportunities provides food all the necessities for a decent life to his family that means this boy
needs to work for that this boy needs to complete education enter into the job market get financial
stability and then run his family what about the girl she has got nothing to do she's fit to just take
care of the kitchen and for that once she attains the age of 18 marry her off no education no
financial independence it is this historic mistake which will be corrected if the minimum legal age of
marriage for both boys as well as girls is the same which is 21. that means on one hand our
constitution believes in equality on the other hand our constitution believes and guarantees that
there can be no discrimination on the grounds of sex and to implement this constitutional guarantee
this constitutional promise we have this bill which is same minimum legal age of marriage for both
boys as well as girls not just that we are facing twin problems twin problems of higher maternity
maternal mortality rate and higher infant mortality rate those who support this bill they have a
belief they have an idea the idea is we have high maternal mortality rate we have high infant
mortality rate and the reason for that is we are marrying a girl at an early age because she is not too
healthy she is not physically very strong and that leads to related complications that leads to
maternal mortality rate getting higher and higher and since this girl child is not in a position to take
care of the new infant as well within the year within one year of the child being born we see lots of
deaths also taking place if we increase the minimum legal age of marriage we are going to improve
the maternal mortality rate in a sense we will lower maternal mortality rate we will also lower infant
mortality rate not just that if this minimum legal age of marriage is enhanced increased it will make
responsible fathers and mothers it will enhance the possibility of responsible parenthood why
because if the girl is 21 boy is also 21 we have this horrible practice of female feticide whenever we
detect that it is going to be a girl child we kill her inside the womb of her mother the logic is if the
minimum legal age of marriage of girl is enhanced to 21 she will then become psychologically very
strong and she will be in a position to withstand the pressures of her in-laws and she will not allow
her fetus to be killed her girl child to be killed inside the womb which means it is going to also
improve sex ratio at birth and when the girl child is also mature about the age of 21 the boy is also
mature about the age of 21 they will focus on the nutritional requirements of their family that is
another important thing that's that is another advantage that's another plus point that's going to
happen if this bill is passed by the parliament not just that we have another problem of teenage
pregnancies teenagers they marry they become pregnant logic says they are physically very weak
and because they are physically weak it leads to complications in pregnancy it leads to miscarriages
as well it leads to still births as well and these other challenges of more and more miscarriages of
stillbirths will also be prevented if the minimum legal age of marriage is enhanced to 21. not just that
financial independence right now the minimum legal age of marriage for girl is 18. if this bill is
passed what will be the minimum legal age 21 how many years three years what will this girl do in
these three years she will complete her education she will enter the job market she will become
financially secure she will become financially independent and she will no longer be dependent upon
the mercies of a man whether it's her father whether it's her brother whether it is her husband
whatever and imagine once a girl becomes financially secure independent financially confident
maybe she will refuse to marry after 21 maybe she will refuse to marry the person selected by her
family maybe she will choose the person of her own choice this is a women's empowerment to a tea
this is women's empowerment because this financial independence and there is no substitute to
financial independence all if you give to a woman financial independence she's going to move
mountains that's the crux of this bill although the government says or the government is silent as to
whether this bill is also targeting population control the government does not say this the
government is silent on this matter the government does not say that one of the objectives of this
bill is to ensure population control but even if it is what's wrong the manner the rate at which we are
reproducing we will soon surpass china as the most populous country of the world we do not have
unlimited resources we have limited resources imagine massive population competing for the same
number of minimum limited resources it's going to be dangerous so one of the other consequences
of this bill when it is passed and when it becomes a law is that it will also lead to population control
so what's wrong with that which basically means right now the minimum legal age of marriage is 18
if it is enhanced to 21 that means we will delay marriage of a last vast majority of women which
means ultimately what will happen the population control measure will also result that's another
important thing about this bill.

Arguments Against

there are farmers today protesting asking for a guarantee on an msp minimum support price there
are some farmers who are asking for farm loan waiver there are some farmers asking for guarantees
on electricity lesser lesser tariffs on electricity that they use for agriculture there are students
demanding jobs there are students demanding exams that railway exams have not been conducted
teachers exams have not been conducted so different people demand different things from the
government who demanded who asked for it that the minimum legal age of marriage should be
increased from 18 to 21 have you heard of any protest have you heard of any demands coming from
any section of the society that we urgently need to increase the minimum legal age of marriage of
women from 18 to 21 who asked for it when no one asked for it what is the need to bring in this law
because this law is after all for the benefit of the people of this country for the benefit of the women
have women asked for these changes if not then what's the purpose that's the first fundamental
flaw with this bill fundamental flaw number two reason for malnutrition mr modi says that when
girls are married off at an early age they suffer from malnutrition yes statistics tell us that if we look
at statistics we look at the data we see that malnutrition amongst women is increasing we also look
at particularly amongst those who are married off at an early age in them also we see increasing
incidence of malnutrition but what is the cause of malnutrition that's not early marriageable age the
cause of malnutrition is poverty how poverty there is a girl child she is married off at an early age
why is she married off at an early age she is married off at an early age because of poverty why
poverty i'll tell you the reason and look at the studies conducted at different points in time in this
country study number one what do they say girls are married off at an early age why because of
escalation in dhabri demands rate of inflation is high if the demand for dowry is today one amount
tomorrow is going to increase manifold so marry the girl at an early age because there is an
escalation in the devry demands despite the fact that accepting dowry is prohibited by law this is the
reason why girls from poor households are married off at an early age reason number one escalation
in dowry demands reason number two poverty poverty in terms of the family which is already poor
has to take care of the girl child now they want to get rid of this girl child wants to marry her off and
give the responsibility of this girl child to someone else poverty is the reason why girls are married
off at an early age it's not that girls of an early age when they marry they suffer from malnutrition
they are already malnourished another reason fear of sexual assault lack of security family members
fair for the safety of their girl child particularly in rural india particularly amongst the poor
marginalized disadvantaged sections of the society and since there is always this fear of sexual
assault these are not my words these are various studies conducted these studies tell us it's the fear
of the sexual assault that is pushing the families to marry their girl child at an early age and there is a
patriarchal mindset as well this girl is paraya dun when the girl is done that means we have to marry
her sooner sooner because this is not our property this is paraya done often or someone else that
means yes malnutrition is prevalent it's a rampant but the cause of malnutrition may not be early
manageable age the cause of malnutrition is poverty otherwise look at the urban india look at
people belonging to the wealthy sections of the society upper sections of the society those families
who are not poor they do not marry the girl child at an early age statistics tell us that majority of the
cases it is the girl belonging to a poor family who is married off at an early age so by increasing the
minimum legal age of marriage from 18 to 21 you're not going to change malnutrition you're not
going to tackle malnutrition you're not going to eradicate malnutrition for that you need to eradicate
the fundamental cause of distress which is poverty yes there are statistics in fact there is a report
and this report was funded by bill and melinda gates foundation it is this report which has been cited
by those who support this bill according to this report there is an increasing incidence and
prevalence of malnutrition particularly amongst those girls who are married off at an early age have
you heard of a phrase putting cart before the horse this report is like putting the statistical horse
statistical cart before the horse of social realities and the reality is that if early marriageable age is
the cause of malnutrition why is it that those who marry at the age of 24 or above they still suffer
from malnutrition because they come from poor sections of the society which means the nutritional
and the health standard of a woman does not increase when she is married off at an higher age
provided she is from a poor family from poverty-stricken family that means the root cause of
poverty of malnutrition is poverty and that's poverty that we will have to tackle not increasing the
minimum legal age of marriage for girls that's argument.

young women in this country they're already scripting change and that too voluntarily jaya met
various stakeholders and she came up with a report according to newspapers the report says that
overwhelming majority of the women of the girls that this committee met they are in support of
raising the minimum legal age of marriage for girls from 18 to 21 but she spoke to or the committee
spoke to university students who are already well off who already are so strong that they are already
present in the schools and the colleges who come from upper sections of the society they are not
stricken by poverty and it is this class of women who is scripting change and that too voluntarily how
according to ministry of statistics and programming implementation the mean age of marriage in
india has increased to 22.1 that too without any fair law that too without any tricks and the
turbulations of the police it is done voluntarily that means women young women particularly who
are in the job market who are in the colleges or universities who have received education they are
already scripting change without any law so why when the young women are already scripting
change that too voluntarily what is the need for this law.

this leads to women's infantilization a woman is of the age of 18. if she's of the age of 16 she can
drive a gearless vehicle if she's of the age of 18 she can drive a car with gears motorcycle with gears
in a majority of the states in india she is old enough to drink at the age of 18 she has the right to vote
look at the irony a woman of 18 to 21 years she has voted in these elections and because of their
vote there are people now sitting inside the parliament who are now saying that this group of
women from 18 to 21 who have elected them they are saying that they are minors they are seeing
their children isn't the law called prohibition of child marriages that means you are in the age group
of 18 to 21 you are old enough to elect a representative to the parliament but you are young enough
to marry you're not old enough to marry it leads to women's infantilization that's another problem
with this law there is another problem india is a signatory to the resolution adopted by the united
nations general assembly in 1989 and it was this resolution which recommended 18 years as the
minimum age in fact there is a connection and india is a signatory to this convention convention on
the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and it is this committee the committee
of this convention which has recommended 18 years as the age of marriage we are going against our
commitments which we have made before the international community this is another problem with
this bill.

now there is another important issue education is the key give women education and they are going
to change the life of the millions of the people if you educate a person a man you're only educating
an individual that's what pander jawaharlal nehru said but if you are educating a woman you're
educating the entire family which basically means you're educating the entire society education my
dear holds the key look at the data a study by international center for research on women what it
says something interesting girls out of school those who are not in school those who have come out
of schools those who have dropped out of schools those who have not completed schooling they are
3.4 times more likely to be married at an early age than those who are already in school or still in
school that means if you're not in school if you have dropped out of the school you are 3.4 times
more likely to marry at the age of 18 or lesser than those who are still in the school which means
give education to the girl child automatically on its own early marriages will stop another study state
of the world report by united nations population fund in india 51 of young women with no education
47 of those with only primary education they had married by the age of 18. lesser your educational
status more early are you likely to get married 51 percent of young women who are illiterate they
marry before the age of 18. 47 of the women who are only educated till the primary stage they
marry before the age of 18. compare this with if a girl has secondary education only 29 of these
women they marry before the age of 18. and those who are with post graduate degree only four
percent of them marry by the age of 18. what does this signify give more educational opportunities
to girls more likely are they going to focus on their careers on their education rather than focusing
on the marriage which means education my dear is the key just by increasing making amendment to
a law increasing the minimum legal age of marriage from 18 to 21 we are not going to script any
change unless and until we empower a girl child with good proper quality education there is another
issue this is something dangerous data says 56 percent of the women in the age group of 20 to 24
they marry before attaining the age of 21. what are you trying to say 56 percent more than half of
the marriages 56 more than half of the women in the age group of 20 to 24 when do they marry
they married before the age of 21. trends don't change overnight which means this trend is going to
continue for a foreseeable future as well do you know what you're doing you are criminalizing more
than half of the girl population that's the problem with this law.

there is another issue this law is neither feasible nor grounded in evidence nor respectful of
women's rights why is this law not feasible we already have a law which prohibits child marriages
that means the marriage of a girl child below the age of 18 even then child marriages persist that
means despite the fact that we have a law which prohibits child marriages below the age of 18 for a
girl child we still have not eradicated child marriages and how can now we enhance it to 21 which
means increase the spread of our target audience from 18 years to 21 years it is not feasible to
implement this to effectively implement this because we failed to tackle child marriages less than
the age of 18 how can we be sure that when we increase the canvas of our population from 18 to 21
we are going to be successful so this law is not feasible it's not grounded in evidence as well because
what do you say you say if a girl child is married off at an early age she suffers from malnutrition but
the source the reason of malnutrition is poverty not early manageable age so this law is neither
feasible because you can't implement it in a better fashion second it is not grounded in evidence
because your logic is wrong and third it is not respectful of women's rights what about the women's
right to marry which is a fundamental right under article 21 of the constitution and the same
supreme court which gave fundamental right to marry to every single women to every single citizen
of this country the same supreme court in majority of the judgments have said 18 is the age of
majority 18 is the age of adulthood so how can you deny this right to marry to a woman of the age
18 a woman may want to marry somebody of her choice but the family is objecting to this marriage
she wants to run away it's a teenage beautiful relationship they want to run away now you might say
that this is illogical why should we support them but she is part of this phrase we the people of india
and it is her who has given herself this constitution because constitution is not the gift of foreign
power constitution is the gift of the people of this country to themselves she may want to elope run
away from our family and then marry the sweetheart of her choice but she has to wait for 21 till the
age of 21. why this is women's infantilization and this is not respectful of women's rights these are
the arguments against this bill against this proposal to enhance the minimum legal age of marriage
for girls from 18 to 21.

but there are other issues as well age of consent what is age of concept at what age can a girl give
consent to a sexual interaction to a sexual intercourse this age of consent is 18 initially it was 12 it
was then rate raised to 14 then it was raised to 16. the year was 2013 when it was raised to 18 what
is the rational the rationale is that a minor is not capable of understanding his actions or her actions
and therefore thereby is not in a position to understand the consequences of those actions that's
why there is a law which prohibits sex with minors there is a law which prohibits sex amongst minors
this age of consent is 18. so a girl is old enough at the age of 18 to give consent to a sexual
intercourse but she is not old enough to start a family to marry this is women's impartialization in
fact there have been many reports many studies which have suggested to the government that
instead you should reduce the age of consent from 18 to 16. why i'll tell you a reason have you heard
of juvenile justice act of 2015 it was because of this judgment that the law said it was because of this
law that children in the age group of 16 to 18 boys in the age group of 16 to 18 if they commit
heinous crimes they can be tried as adults prior to this law if a juvenile a juvenile somebody below
the age of 18 if this juvenile would have committed any crime the maximum punishment that could
be awarded to this juvenile was three years that too not in a regular home but in a reform home that
means the law made a distinction between juveniles and adults juveniles cannot be tried like an
adult but then there was human cry human cry primarily because of 2012 i think december 16 2012
if i'm right nearby was gang raped in a moving bus one of the rapists turned out to be a juvenile few
months short of the age of 18. the maximum punishment that was awarded to this juvenile was
three years in a reform home and after that he was released what happened to the other rapists one
committed suicide inside the jail and others were hanged but this juvenile was not hanged there was
huge who protest human cry and ultimately few data was presented reports were presented
statistics were presented that there is an increased incidence of crime committed by boys in the age
group of 16 to 18. in the age group of 16 to 18 crimes have been committed and that is why we need
to try these juveniles in the age group of 16 to 18 as adults yes there may be some truth in the fact
that yes there has been some perceptible increase in the crimes committed by boys in the age group
of 16 to 18 but there is another side of the story as well the another side of the story is fake cases
fake cases boy and a girl both are less than the age of 18. teenage crush fell in a relationship they
eloped ran away from their homes and ultimately developed sexual interaction as well but what is
the age of consent for a girl 18. a woman a girl below the age of 18 even if she indulges in
consensual sexual interaction it is still rape because a girl child age 18 cannot give consent because
she is treated as a minor now this couple entered into a sexual interaction the parents of the girl
child they caught hold of them and now the parents are pressurizing the girl that you'd have to
support us we will file a rape charge against this boy and this boy is sentenced under the entire rape
laws indian penal code section 375 of the indian penal code because what is rape with or without
her consent when she is under the 16 years of age and this 16 years of age was later on enhanced to
18 years of age that means a girl child bill before the age of 18 she cannot give consent which means
what is happening today 2019 judgment of madras high court boy and a girl they eloped the age of
the boy is not known but the age of the girl is 17. they ran away they eloped and for six months they
were staying somewhere and after that they were caught the family now filed a charge against this
boy under indian penal court because it's a rape as well as prevention of sexual offenses prevention
of sexual offenses against children or prevention of child sexual offenses the madras high court said
that this is the classic example of a teenage attraction which is common at that age madras high
court requested the government urge the government that you should reduce the age of consent
from 18 to 16. another related issue to this bill is what about the age of consent should age of
consent also then be enhanced to 21 if it is enhanced to 21 we are going to produce more and more
rapists in this country instead age of consent various studies sure should be reduced to 16. we are
talking about women's empowerment those who are the proponents of this bill they say we are
doing it for the sake of women for their empowerment because we want to empower them why
don't you empower them by making marital rape a criminal offense what is rape sexual intercourse
with a woman against her will but this marriage certificate is treated as the consent of a woman for
her entire life even during her marriage she may not want to give consent on a particular day there
have been instances where the husbands force force themselves on their wives it is still not a crime
because a woman has given her consent when she has signed up for marriage and this consent is for
entire life empower women by making marital rape also a criminal offence in fact indian penal code
strangely said that sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife is not rape if the woman or the girl
child or if the wife is about the age of fifteen billion fifteen if the girl the wife is below the age of
fifteen it will be rape but later on because of various supreme court judgments pronouncements
supreme court said no it should not be 15 it should be 18. that means if the wife is below the age of
18 since the age of consent is 18 even if the wife is giving you consent it's still rape but what about if
a wife is 21 25 35 65 marital rape should still be a crime because what is right sexual intercourse
with a woman against her will she may not give her consent even during marriage and that is
woman's empowerment that is something that we need.

this is a question that can be on your mind what is the status of child marriages or legal status of
child marriages let's say there is a girl below the age of 18 she's married is this marriage legal is this
marriage valid or tomorrow if the law is changed and the minimum legal age of marriage is 21. what
will happen to those marriages which are solemnized below the age of 21 whether it's a boy or a girl
whether it's a girl these marriages are valid but voidable what does that mean the girl is married
before the age of 18. if the girl is married before the age of 18 which is the current minimum legal
age of marriage this marriage is still valid but when the girl turns major mature which means when
the girl turns 18 then for two years which means up to the age of 20 she can approach the courts to
null this marriage the girl is married before the age of 18 maybe at the age of 12 13 15 16 is this
marriage legal yes is this marriage valid yes but it can be voidable how once the girl attains the age
of eighteen within two years she can approach the issue and say i was married before the legal age
this marriage i don't want to continue with i want you to terminate this marriage to declare this
marriage void this can happen what does this law say this bill say which is currently pending in the
parliament it says now at the age of 23 or till the age of 23 that means if a girl is married before the
age of 21 will this marriage be valid yes but can it be voidable yes that means once the girl attains
the age of 21 then within two years that means up to 23 years of age she can approach the court
and ask that this marriage should be made void should be declared now that can happen.

or except the suggestions of the law commission way back in 2008 the law commission
recommended keep the minimum eligible age of marriage for both boys as well as girls 18. so
instead of increasing it to 21 lower the minimum age of marriage for boy to 18 so that there is parity
so that there is no discrimination encourage killing we've seen how through education because
education is the key if you are educated you delay your marriage if you're educated you become
financially secure financially independent you are not dependent upon the mercies of a man let
women enter the job market the pandemic has shown us another ugly story women's labor
participation rate is falling falling like never before encourage women to take up jobs give them
employment opportunities make them financially secure upskilling is the need of lover