Marking a significant step towards its commitment to enhance the status of women, the Union cabinet recently cleared a proposal for raising their legal age of marriage from 18 to 21 years, bringing it at par with that of men. The cabinet’s decision is based on a recommendation of a panel headed by former Samata Party chief Jaya Jaitly.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development in June last year had set up a Task Force Committee led by Jaitly and comprising top expert from Niti Aayog Dr VK Paul and senior officials from several ministries as members. The committee was formed to recommend the minimum age for marriage of women after examining matters pertaining to age of motherhood, imperatives of lowering maternal mortality rates (MMR), improvement of nutritional levels among mother and child and other related issues.
The task force has said that the minimum age of women at the time of giving birth to their first child should be 21 years. Furthermore, it was said that the delay in marriage has a positive impact on the financial, social and well-being of families, women, children and society.
After consultations with experts, young adults, young women and others who are likely to be affected directly by the decision, the committee made extensive recommendations, including ensuring access to education and livelihood in order to make the legislation effective. It has further recommended that a comprehensive awareness campaign be undertaken on a massive scale to encourage social acceptance of the new age threshold. A report says that these recommendations are not structured on grounds of population control, but rather on women empowerment and gender parity.
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Incidentally, during her Budget speech for 2020-2021, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had proposed the setting up of a task force to recommend increasing the minimum marriageable age for women. Later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his 2020 Independence Day address announced that the proposal was under review and had promised to make a substantial move in this respect.
The legal minimum age for marriage at present is 21 years for men and 18 for women. With the cabinet clearing the proposal, the government is likely to introduce a Bill in the ongoing Winter Session to amend the relevant portions of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, the Special Marriage Act, 1954 and personal laws such as the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, to bring the plan into action.
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Earlier this year, the apex court issued notice on a petition seeking transfer to it of all petitions urging for a uniform age of marriage for men and women which are before different High Courts. The petitioner contended that the distinction in age of marriage is based on patriarchal stereotypes, perpetuates de jure and de facto inequality against women and contravenes the constitutional rights enshrined under Articles 14, 15 and 21. The petitioner sought a direction to the centre to take steps to remove the anomalies in the minimum age of marriage and make it “gender-neutral, religion-neutral and uniform for all citizens” in the spirit of constitutional principles.
—By Banshika Garg and India Legal Bureau