They point out that although marriages are currently illegal for girls under the age of 18, child marriage remains a major challenge in the country – up to a quarter of women aged 20 to 24 married before they turned 18, according to the National Family Health Survey, 2019-21. Estimates of child marriage rates in India vary widely from source to source. The states with the highest observed marriage rates for girls under the age of 18 in 2009 were Jharkhand (14.1%), West Bengal (13.6%), Bihar (9.3%), Uttar Pradesh (8.9%) and Assam (8.8%), according to a report by the Registrar General of India. [4] According to this report, despite a sharp decline in child marriage rates since 1991 in 2009, 7% of women aged 18 in India were still married. UNICEF India played an important role in highlighting Indian data on the prevalence rate of child marriage from its 1990s study. The Indian government plans to raise the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21. For men, there are already 21. The government argues that this will empower women and ensure gender equality. This may seem possible at first glance, but in the context of growing social and state control over marriage, the proposed law may be troubling.
As critics have pointed out, an 18-year-old can vote and is considered an adult in other laws, but when it comes to marriage, everyone is considered a child up to 21. In 2018, the Law Commission of India proposed lowering the legal minimum age for men from 21 to 18 and limiting the minimum legal age for both sexes to marry to 18. According to 2019 government data, the average age of women is 22.1 years. This number has gradually increased over the years, which shows that change is voluntary. Much of the change has occurred as women`s education rates have improved. The Age of Marriage Bill is deeply political. Following the amendment of the Muslim Divorce Law, the government raised the minimum age of marriage. In fact, it systematically hacks into the personal laws of the communities and thus moves towards a Unified Civil Code (CDU) without actually promulgating one. The most important advantage is that this step is a step towards gender equality, as it will align the legal age of marriage for men and women with the right to equal treatment under Article 14 of the Indian Constitution.
There is constant legal confusion regarding marital rape in the context of child marriages banned in India. Rape in marriage itself is not a crime in India; But the situation regarding children is puzzling. While the exception to adult criminal law (Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860) is an exception and allows the rape of a girl between the ages of 15 and 18 by her husband in marriage. However, this exception was made by the Supreme Court of India in Independent Thought v. Union of India in October 2017 and stated that sexual intercourse with all wives under the age of 18 is considered rape; Another new and progressive law on the protection of children from sexual offences of 2012 prohibits such sexual relations and establishes such crimes with marriages as a serious crime. Before 1929, Scottish law followed Roman law by allowing a girl to marry at the age of twelve and a boy at the age of fourteen without the need for parental consent. However, marriage in Scotland at such a young age was almost unknown in practice. [30] In India, the legal age of marriage is currently 18 for girls and 21 for boys. Mitharwal says several of his friends were married by his family as soon as they turned 18. “At this age, girls are not prepared for marriage,” she says.
“They`re just coming out of high school when their parents arrange their marriage and finish their education.” In rabbinic Judaism, men cannot consent to marriage until they reach the age of 13 and one day and have gone through puberty, and women cannot consent to marriage until they reach the age of 12 and one day and have gone through puberty.