Raising legal age of marriage for women

GS Paper 2:

Topics Covered: Parliament and state legislatures- functioning.

Raising legal age of marriage for women:

Context:

The Parliamentary Standing Committee tasked to study the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill 2021, which proposes to raise the age of marriage for women to 21 from 18 years, met recently.

• The Standing Committee was assigned the task of studying the Bill in January 2022 and granted three months to do so but it was granted a three-month extension till June 2022.
• The Bill has attracted criticism from the civil society.

Rationale behind the legislation:

The age of marriage should be uniformly applicable to all religions, caste, creed, overriding any custom or law that seeks to discriminate against women.

The Bill would amend:

1. The Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1972.
2. The Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936.
3. The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937.
4. The Special Marriage Act, 1954.
5. The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
6. The Foreign Marriage Act, 1956.

Task force:

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech last year proposed a panel on the “age of a girl entering motherhood” to lower maternal mortality rates and improve nutrition levels.

• But when the decision to appoint a task force was announced, its terms of reference included examining “the correlation of age of marriage and motherhood” with health and nutritional status of mothers and infants.

Important recommendations:

• The age of marriage should be increased to 21 years.
• The government should look into increasing access to schools and colleges for girls, including their transportation to these institutes from far-flung areas.
• Skill and business training has also been recommended, as has sex education in schools.
• These deliveries must come first, as, unless they are implemented and women are empowered, the law will not be as effective.

Criticism:

• Women’s rights activists have opposed the suggestion and have cited evidence to show that such a move may be used to incarcerate young adults marrying without parents’ consent.
• Also, this move would lead to criminalisation of a large number of marriages that will take place once the law comes into effect.

What the law says?

Currently, the law prescribes that the minimum age of marriage is 21 and 18 years for men and women, respectively.

The minimum age of marriage is distinct from the age of majority, which is gender-neutral.

1. An individual attains the age of majority at 18 as per the Indian Majority Act, 1875.
2. For Hindus, Section 5(iii) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 sets 18 years as the minimum age for the bride and 21 years as the minimum age for the groom. Child marriages are not illegal but can be declared void at the request of the minor in the marriage.
3. In Islam, the marriage of a minor who has attained puberty is considered valid under personal law.
4. The Special Marriage Act, 1954 and the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 also prescribe 18 and 21 years as the minimum age of consent for marriage for women and men respectively.

Why is the law being relooked at?

• From bringing in gender-neutrality to reduce the risks of early pregnancy among women, there are many arguments in favour of increasing the minimum age of marriage of women.
• Early pregnancy is associated with increased child mortality rates and affects the health of the mother.
• Despite laws mandating minimum age and criminalising sexual intercourse with a minor, child marriages are very prevalent in the country.
• Also, according to a study, children born to adolescent mothers (10-19 years) were 5 percentage points more likely to be stunted (shorter for their age) than those born to young adults (20-24 years).

InstaLinks:

Prelims Link:

1. Jaya Jailtley committee was constituted for the purpose of?
2. Legal provisions related to minimum age of marriage for men and women in India.
3. Key provisions of Special Marriage Act, 1954.
4. Overview of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.
5. Standing vs select vs finance committees.
6. Who appoints chairperson and members of these committees?
7. Committees exclusive to only Lok Sabha.
8. Committees where Speaker is the chairperson.

Mains Link:

Do you think minimum age for marriage for men and women should be raised? Discuss.

Sources: the Hindu.