Recently, the Union Cabinet gave it’s approval for a proposal involving the raise in the minimum age of women marriage. The marriageable women age which was 18 years till now could be increased to 21 years as per this latest proposal of the Union Cabinet. Prime Minister, Narendra Modi shared this information on 15 August, 2020.
As of now, the minimum age of marriage for men is 21 years, while it is 18 years for women. PM Modi called it as the step to save girls from malnutrition by increasing their marriageable age.
Explaining the reason behind this, the PM said, “The government has always been concerned about the health of daughters and sisters. To save daughters from malnutrition, it is important that they get married at the right age”.
Changes to be made in laws
If this decision comes into force then, the minimum age of marriage for both men and women will be same i.e., 21 years. For the implementation of this order, the government will amend Section 5(iii) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the Special Marriage Act, 1954 and the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, all three of which mention about the minimum marriageable age for women and men as 18 years and 21 years respectively with consent.
Besides protecting girls against malnutrition, the government too wants to prevent the ill effects of girls becoming mothers at an early age by increasing the age of marriage.
The task force will also be setup for looking in this matter, this was informed by Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech for 2020-21. Explaining the reason for the recent proposal to increase the age of marriage for women, she also said that now that India is progressing, opportunities for women to pursue higher education and make a career have also shoot up.
One more important reason behind this decision is reducing the risk of rising maternal mortality due to the marriage at an early age.
Recommendations were made by
The Union Cabinet’s decision is based on the recommendations of the Central Task Force which it submitted to NITI Aayog in December 2020. This task force was headed by Jaya Jaitley. Central Task Force was setup in June 2020 by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, and Dr. VK Paul of NITI Aayog along with the Secretaries of various Ministries like Women and Child Development, Health and Education ministry were also the part of this task force.
Read more: Know India Better: Indian Railways’ ‘Bharat Gaurav’ Project will offer Theme based Tourism
This task force dealt with matters relating to the age of motherhood, the imperative to reduce MMR (Maternal Mortality Rate), improving nutritional status and other related issues. The task force collected feedback on these matters from over 16 universities, 15 NGOs, thousands of youth, backward sections and also from all religions as well as from both urban and rural areas.
What will be the effect of increasing the age of marriage of women?
There are various questions being raised on this decision. But, they can be cleared only after the government brings these changes in the relevant section of laws. After increasing the age of marriage of women, discussion has started regarding its impact on society. The question in the minds of many people is that the age of majority in the country is 18 years and if a woman marries above 18 years and below 21 years of age, will her marriage be considered valid?
The second question is also that if a woman above 18 years of age but less than 21 years of age has a consensual relationship, then will her partner be subject to rape sections for doing so at less than the proposed age of marriage (21 years)? Let us know what are the answers to these questions?
What will happen if a woman over 18, but under 21, makes a relationship with consent?
What happens if a woman enters into a relationship with her consent when she attains the age of 18, that is, an adult and before the age of marriage (proposed 21 years)?
In 2006, the Supreme Court ruled in Lata Singh vs State of Uttar Pradesh that, “If a woman is an adult i.e., 18, she may marry any person of her choice or live with any person of her choice”.
In 2018, a Supreme Court bench of Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan, in a case of a girl who was 19 years and the boy who was below 21, said, “They are both adults. Even if they are not eligible to participate in the arrangement of marriage, they have the right to live together outside the marriage. The girl’s freedom of choice will be with whom she wants to live”.
Live-in relationships have also been recognised under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act.
We will we able to develop a better understanding of these changes once they are implemented.
Also read: Another Feat: India Builds World’s Highest Road In Ladakh; Higher Than Everest’s Base Camp