Child marriage a punishable offence?

[Samriti Sharma]

#34617

Any marriage which takes place between the parties where the girl is under 18 years of age and a boy is under 21 years of marriage is considered as child marriage. Despite having several laws child marriage is still actively prevalent in state of Rajasthan and Bihar in India. Talking about the legal aspect of the same, yes child marriage is a punishable offence under various law’s in India.
The first Act that was passed to prohibit child marriage in society was the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 which only had provisions for solemnisation of marriage not for the prohibition of the same. It was due to the failure of this act that a new legislation was passed by the parliament in the year 2006 known as the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act,2006. The act defined child marriage as a marriage to which either of the contracting parties is a child. Section 9-11 lay down the provisions regarding punishment for child marriage, section/9 States that a adult male contracting child marriage shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment of two years or fine which may extend to one lakh or both.
Section/10 states that whosoever conducts, directs or abets any child marriage shall be punishable with the imprisonment of two years and also liable to fine which may extend to one lakh rupees until he proves that marriage was not a child marriage.
Section/11 states that where a guardian or any other person who has the custody of the child is found indulged in a n Act which promotes the marriage or permits it to be solemnized shall be punishable in the same manner as stated above provided that women are not punishable with imprisonment.
Despite these provisions in an independent India the crimes related to child marriage are increasing day by day, especially among communities or societies which are educationally backward.

[038 deepika Singh]

#34623

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Child marriage is a curse. It snatches away childhood from children’s life. Child marriages has been prevailing in our country since a long time. India is estimated to have over 24 million child brides. 40% of the world’s 60 million child marriages take place in India according to the National Family Health Survey. The most common reasons for underage marriages includes poverty, illiteracy, financial constraints, religious and social traditions. Most of the girls drop out from schools and colleges without completing their education and are married off to men. Having incomplete education makes them financially dependent on their husband and limits their activities to performing house chores and raise their kids. Married teenage girls who are uneducated are more prone to sexual and domestic abuse than married adult and educated woman. The government of India has proposed raising the minimum legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years. Currently, the minimum legal age for women to marry is 18 years and the same for men is 21 years. The bill has not been passed yet due to resistance from several parties.
Despite of all these efforts many girls in rural areas are married much before the age of eighteen, they become mothers at an early age when their bodies are not even ready for it, citing several health issues. Child marriage is a violation of human rights and child rights and is clearly a punishable offence.

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