Minimum Age of Marriage for Girls GS Paper - 2 Issues Relate | Deepak UPSC Notes

Minimum Age of Marriage for Girls

GS Paper - 2

Issues Related to Women

Government Policies & Interventions

Issues Related to Children

Health

Gender

History

The Indian Penal Code enacted in 1860criminalised sexual intercourse with a girlbelow the age of 10. The provision of rape was amended in 1927 through the Age of Consent Bill, 1927, which declared that marriage with a girl under 12 would be invalid.

In 1929, the Child Marriage Restraint Actset 16 and 18 years as the minimum age of marriage for girls and boys respectively. 

This law, popularly known as the Sarda Act after its sponsor Harbilas Sarda, a judge and a member of Arya Samaj, was eventually amended in 1978 to prescribe 18 and 21 years as the age of marriage for a woman and a man respectively.

Present Age for Marriage

The Special Marriage Act, 1954 and the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006prescribe 18 and 21 years as the minimum age of consent for marriage for women and men respectively.

The laws prescribe a minimum age of marriage to essentially outlaw child marriages and prevent the abuse of minors.Personal laws of various religions that deal with marriage have their own standards, often reflecting custom

For Hindus, Section 5(iii) of The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, sets 18 years as the minimum age for the bride and 21 years as the minimum age for the groom. However, child marriages are not illegal — even though they can be declared void at the request of the minor in the marriage.

In Islam, the marriage of a minor who has attained puberty is considered valid.

Additionally, sexual intercourse with a minor is rape, and the ‘consent’ of a minor is regarded as invalid since she is deemed incapable of giving consent at that age

Link Between Age of Marriage and Nutrition:

A study conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), which was published in 2019, showed that children born to adolescent mothers (10-19 years) were 5 percentage points more likely to be stunted(shorter for their age) than those born to young adults (20-24 years), and 11 percentage points more stunted than children born to adult mothers (25 years or older).

Children born to adolescent mothers also had 10 percentage points higher prevalence of low weight as adult mothers.

It recommended that increasing age at first marriage, age at first birth, and girl’s education are a promising approach to improve maternal and child nutrition.

About the Committee:

On 2nd June 2020, the Union Ministry for Women and Child Development set up a committee to examine matters pertaining to age of motherhood, imperatives of lowering Maternal Mortality Ratio and the improvement of nutritional levels among women. The Committee is headed by Jaya Jaitely.

The Committee was proposed in the Union Budget 2020-21.

It will examine the correlation of age of marriage and motherhood with health, medical well-being, and nutritional status of the mother and neonate, infant or child, during pregnancy, birth and thereafter.

It will also look at key parameters like Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), Total Fertility Rate (TFR), Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) and Child Sex Ratio (CSR), and willexamine the possibility of increasing the age of marriage for women from the present 18 years to 21 years