Bill To Raise Marriage Age Of Women Gets Over 90,000 Emails Opposing It, With Identical Content

A parliamentary panel examining a highly contentious bill to raise the legal age of marriage of women from 18 to 21 has reportedly received over 95,000 responses to it.

But according to reports over 90,000 of them have opposed the bill and all the emails have identical texts - suggesting that they have been drafted by the same source.

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Organised attempt

The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, which was tabled in Lok Sabha in December 2021, is currently being examined by a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, headed by BJP MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe.

The Union Cabinet has passed a proposal to increase the minimum legal age of marriage for women but was referred to the parliamentary committee due to the opposition from child and women rights activists.

It seems that these emails are part of a conspiracy to defeat the purpose of this landmark legislation, sources in the panel told PTI.

Last month, the parliamentary standing committee was given a three-month extension and its report will now be submitted in June.

AFP

Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021

The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021, seeks to amend seven personal laws -- the Indian Christian Marriage Act, the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, the Special Marriage Act, the Hindu Marriage Act, and the Foreign Marriage Act.

It also seeks to override all existing laws, including any custom, usage or practice governing the parties in relation to marriage.

The bill was drafted based on the recommendations submitted to Niti Aayog by the Centre¡¯s task force led by Jaya Jaitly.

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In 2018, the National Human Rights Commission had also suggested that the marriageable age should be uniform for both men and women in the country.

A polarising legislation

While the bill has been welcomed by many women's rights groups, there is also a large section who are opposed to the legislation.

Those supporting the bill argue that the proposed legislation is a strong measure towards the commitment of the Government for the same as it will bring women on equal footing with males.

There are imperatives for lowering the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and improvements of nutrition levels as well as an increase in Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB).

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However, those against raising the legal marriage age argued that the bill would not help in women's empowerment and that it was wrong to criminalise the personal choice of adults.

Others also point out that the bill violated Muslim Personal Law.

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