REVISION OF MARITAL AGE IN INDIA
By: Jaya Vats,BBA LLB, Third year
ICFAI University,Dehradun.
INTRODUCTION
No doubt that in India, marriage is a very prominent milestone in one’s life. Indian families consider marriage as one of the responsibilities of parents to settle down their children at a correct age and time. Most of the time, just after the completion of graduation, one starts getting suggestions by their parents, uncle, aunties and other relatives to get married. Although, being a boy has some liberties, as this delays the discussion but for girls there is a lot of pressure from family, relatives and society. Is it justified ? In certain parts of India, especially rural ones,young girls are influenced and pressurized to get married as early as possible. In the 1978 Amendment to the Sharda Act of 1929, the age of marriage of girls was increased from 15 to 18 years.Currently in India, the age of marriage for a male is 21 years and for a female it’s 18 years.
Today,Indian women are doing so well in every field leaving no stone unturned to reach their desired goals. From playing a vital role of being someone’s daughter, wife, mother & sister to giving their best in combat roles in the Navy and the Air Force.Women showed everytime that whenever they are given the opportunity they make the society proud and strengthen it. Moreover, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on 77th independence day while addressing the nation, mentioned about the set up of a committee that will reconsider the age of marriage.
WOMEN AND EDUCATION
In modern times as the current scenario regarding women and education is continuously accelerating , women have become more career oriented these days. Meanwhile, the pressure to get married, sometimes results in unfulfilled dreams.This initiative of the government of increasing the marital age would not only give more time to young ladies to avail the opportunities but would also decrease the societal pressure to get married at an early age.Can we hold on for a while and think about this “ marriage can wait but education cannot”.It is also said that “if you educate a woman, you educate a family.”The rate of early marriage in India has significantly shown a decrease in percentage with increase in women education. NFHS-4 survey suggests that on an average only 2.4 per cent of women who were highly educated got married at an early age. While,women who had no education, the average prevalence of child marriage was 30.8 per cent. Observing the huge difference you can understand the importance of education. Due to marriage at a young age, most girls are deprived of getting highly educated which eventually affects their lifestyle in some way or the other.
HEALTH OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN
A female’s body isn’t appropriately developed for the purpose of reproduction below the age of 18 years. A study from UNICEF revealed that 27 per cent of women are married before even attaining the age of 18 years. Not only will it have an impact on their reproductive health but also on their mental health. Another study from UNICEF gives data which is a matter of concern. According to this study, India has the highest mortality rate of children aged between 0-5 years. The risk of children having severe health issues and more prone to death are all related to the women getting married at an early age, says NCBI report. Studies have shown that there are multiple cases where women bearing a child at an early age faced a lot of complications.It eventually led to a higher number of maternal and infant mortality rate. In the year 2017, the number of deaths due to pregnancy was as high as 35,000 We believe, it’s immensely needed to revise the legal age of marriage so that the women would have ample amount of time to get aware about certain things before overburdening themselves with marital responsibilities. Increasing the legal age of marriage would also be beneficial and sensible from maturity point of view. Certain research and reports show that after a certain age there were less heated arguments and better understanding between the couples leading to less number of cases of divorce.
As we are discussing this article in terms of the benefit of women’s health. In my view, increasing the marital age would somehow have a positive impact on population control too. Reason being, if early marriage leads to pregnancy at a younger age which brings complications related to reproductive health, the same goes with late pregnancy. After a certain age, there are higher chances of complications and risk due to certain hormonal changes.In an interview with Times of India,one of the gynecologist mentioned that around 10-30% of women opting for late pregnancy are more prone to diabetes and 10-20% may develop blood pressure No doubt that raising the marital age would bring enormous opportunities to women but somehow we all are aware of the ground reality. Laws were made earlier too,but are they implemented strictly?
Considering the trend of child marriage which is still prevailing in some parts of India. According to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act,2006, the minimum age of marriage for girls is 18 years and for boys it’s 21 years. It does not declare the marriage null and void but treats it as voidable. It means the marriage will be void at the option of the two minors involved.Also, PCMA declares the marriage as void, where trafficking, incitement, fraud and deceit is involved. We are Emphasizing on this point because personally we feel that if the government is planning to amend the law, they should make sure that the laws must be implemented strictly.Changing the provision would definitely be beneficial but to how much extend and in what manner will it be implemented should be the prior concern.More awareness should be spread among all regarding the laws and their rights.So a question comes up here“ Is the raising of marital age sufficient to bring changes”?
CONCLUSION
Women will definitely get new doors open after the initiative of increasing the marital age comes into force.They’ll have more time to complete their studies,educate themselves and have a proper psychological as well as physical growth. It has been said that “Educate a woman, educate a family” but I believe that “ Educate a women, Educate the society". If we have more number of educated women , we’ll have a more egalitarian society. Women will be more aware about their rights. If someone will do them wrong they can raise their voice against all odds and can have their own stand. In the worst situation they can also fulfill their livelihood on their own. It will not only make them independent and self-reliant but would also boost up their mental and emotional state.In addition to all this more awareness campaign should be conducted especially in the rural areas regarding education and independency of women and it’s long term benefit.
There are some information regarding girls who ran away from their home to avoid societal pressure for early marriage and eventually they came out with flying colours. In 2019, girl named Rekha from home in Chikkaballapur village, Karnataka ran away from her home to avoid child marriage. She was determined to become an IAS officer and secured 90.3% in the PU II examinations 5 . One more recent news came that a girl named Sanju Rani Verma from UP ran away from home to avoid marriage and returns back home after seven years as PCS Officer. She was compelled to get married after completing her post graduation from the University of
Delhi . But she was determined enough to reach her goals so she does. There are many more girls like Rekha and Sanju who are determined and sensible enough to reach their desired goals but
some of them come forward and fight for their rights but some of them are still wondering how to escape this.
Moreover, the revision of age will be justified as according to Article 14 of the Constitution Of India, 1950, we all have the right to equality. So revising the marital age of women to 21 will make it equal for both males and females. And here I am concluding this article with this question: “Has life more to offer than being married at an early age in the name of settlement”?
