‘Marriage law won’t make child marriage ab initio void’

‘Marriage law won’t make child marriage ab initio void’

Ambika.Pandit@timesgroup.com

New Delhi  22.12.2021

Soon after the government introduced a bill in Parliament to amend the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, some of those who were at the forefront of supporting the decision, however, lamented that the proposed legislation does not bring amendments to make child marriage void.

They pointed out that the proposed law will not make child marriage, in its present form, void at the outset and it will continue to remain voidable at the option of the contracting party who was a child at the time of the marriage.

After the bill was introduced in Lok Sabha, Vikram Srivastava, founder “Independent Thought” and Convenor, Campaign against Child Marriage, said, “The special and secular character of PCMA having an overriding application is a welcome step. The consequential amendments to other laws will end the otherwise ambiguity and provide the much needed protection to girls through a uniform law.”

“The 2021 amendment to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, however leaves the most controversial and complicating gap of ‘void ab-initio’ clause unresolved. It is unclear how this increase in age would resolve or restrict solemnisation of marriage, if it remains to be valid,” Srivastava said. In the ‘Independent Thought’ case judgment of 2017, the Supreme Court had declared sex with minor wife as rape.

Dr Renu Singh Country Director, Young Lives India, said that bill sets forth the rationale for increasing the age of marriage for girls to 21 years based on the principle of equality (same age for men and women) and the need to increase the age so as to ensure that the “physical, mental and reproductive health” of women is protected.

Meanwhile, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board came out to reject the bill and said they would request the government to not go ahead with it. In a statement, the board argued that “Islam doesn’t prescribe any age for marriage. This is left to the persons who have attained the age of adolescence or to their guardians”.