On December 15, the Union Cabinet approved a proposal to raise the legal age of marriage of women from 18 years to 21 years. During the Independence Day address in August 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the same and said the Government was planning to amend the law for the same. He again pointed out the same in an address to the people of the nation in October 2020 and said the government would soon take a decision over it. Once the law is amended, the legal marriageable age for both men and women would become the same, i.e. 21 years.
After the announcement of the decision, there were speculations that the burden of this decision would fall only on Hindus since there was no clarity whether personal laws would be amended. It was unclear if any change to Muslim Personal Law would be made to amend the minimum age of marriage for women, which is currently 15 years. For all other personal laws in India along with the special marriage act, the minimum age of the bride is 18 years while the same for the groom is 21 years.
The speculation was that the Muslim personal law would give the community the right to marry their girls at 15, and Hindus would follow the law, thereby affecting the fertility rate and screwing the demography further.
OpIndia reached out to sources in the know to get clarity on the issue. Sources have clarified that all personal laws would also be amended to increase the marital age of women to 21.
The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021’ proposes to amend ‘The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 (PCMA)’ for making the age of marriage equal at 21 years for both males and females, which is presently 21 years for males and 18 years for females and consequential amendments in laws relating to age of marriage i.e. ‘the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872’; ‘the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936’; ‘the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937’; ‘the Special Marriage Act, 1954’; ‘the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955’; and ‘the Foreign Marriage Act, 1969’. Also the laws namely ‘the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956’; and ‘Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956’ pertain to this context.
Purpose of increasing the marriage age of women to 21
Sources said that the move has the potential to bring gender equality in India. The Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy (particularly the Right to Equality and Right against Exploitation) under Constitution of India guarantees gender equality. The proposed legislation is a strong measure towards commitment of the Government for the same as it will bring women on equal footing with male.
As India progresses, further opportunities open up for women to pursue higher education and careers. There are imperatives for lowering Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and improvements of nutrition levels as well as increase in Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB). These are the main reasons for effecting the proposed legislation. It will also result in women attaining psychological maturity before marriage, exercising better reproductive rights and better place in life skills including about family planning, use of contraceptives etc.
