We support the 2008 recommendation of the Committee on Legal Affairs to bring the legal age of marriage for boys and girls under 18 instead of 21. If people can vote at the age of 18, they should also be allowed to choose their partner at that age. The marriage bill was sent to a parliamentary committee, but another controversial law passed amends the electoral law. It amends both the Representation of the People Acts of 1950 and 1951. Ironically, the change in suffrage related to the definition of all young people under the age of 21 as children in the Marriage Act strengthens the right to vote for 18-year-olds. The bill also increases the number of eligibility dates for the revision of voters` lists from one to four per year. Currently, January 1 of each year is the qualification date. Each year, those who turn 18 years of age by that day have the right to vote. This has been changed to include April 1, July 1 and October 1, so you don`t have to wait until the end of the year to apply. “In India, child marriage has always been a stumbling block for women. While it was endemic in all parts of the country, government rules and actions managed to remove it to some extent and sweep it under the rug, but it is still widespread. It continues, under the guise of a social marriage, which is not legalized until the girl reaches the age of 18.
In New Zealand, however, the age of marriage is 20 for both men and women. In Singapore, persons under the age of 21 who wish to marry must obtain parental consent, and those under the age of 18 also require a special licence issued by the Ministry of Social and Family Development. Vinoj Manning, CEO of the Ipas Foundation for Development, says that if women can vote at 18, why do they have to choose their life partner at 21? “If you look at all the laws, 18 is the limit, why do we increase marriage to 21? This contradicts all existing legal rights in the country. From the age of consent to the right to choose an abortion, Indian laws have allowed women aged 18 and over to decide for themselves. Single women under the age of 18 need the consent of their legal guardian to have an abortion due to an unwanted pregnancy. The government should also review all of these laws before implementing this law,” Manning said. “The government states that this brings gender equality to the country and other issues such as maternal mortality rate, infant mortality rate, poor health of women, etc. But simply extending the marriage for two years without considering other social factors cannot be the right way to change the law,” says Anubha Rastogi. Young Lives followed 3,000 young people in India (in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) from childhood to early adulthood and gained detailed information on early marriage. The letter summarizes these findings, arguing that while improving gender parity in the law would be a sea change for a country where the majority of young women currently marry between the ages of 18 and 21, legislative changes alone are not enough to produce the desired positive effects. An article published in the Journal of Women, Politics & Policy that examined marriage-related legislation around the world showed that in Mozambique, the age at which brides and grooms can marry is the same at 18.
Ironically, there are about 56% of child marriages (under the age of 18) in Mozambique, which is much higher than in India. This suggests that the mere introduction of a law that is equivalent to the minimum legal age of marriage does not necessarily show an increase in the improvement of the status of women and the achievement of the objectives enumerated by the government when it introduced this law. It is imperative that the government complement this legislation with various other frameworks and systems. However, this does not mean that it is useless to introduce parity at the minimum age of marriage and will not bring results. It is crucial not to implement this law in isolation, but with other policies to achieve the objectives set out by the government. Mahima married a few days after her 16th birthday. It was a tight affair in his village in Bihar. Covid-19 offered his family the perfect opportunity to organize this discreet wedding without attracting too much attention. “Schools were closed, I had nothing to do at home.
Also, nowadays it is not so easy to get an ideal groom. He took me to Delhi, he works as an air conditioning fitter and I took a job in a beauty salon,” jokes Mahima, who is expecting her first child and a legal marriage license when she turns 18 later this year. The practice of marriage in India is associated with patriarchal challenges – the dowry system, the systematic and systemic subjugation of women, and has put undue pressure on women to become mothers.