In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court has suggested few important steps to be taken with immediate effect to eradicate the child marriage menace. The two most important directives of the Apex Court are appointment of child marriage prohibition officers at district level along with establishing dedicated units, which will be entrusted with the job to prevent this social evil from taking place. According to a recent study conducted by the UNICEF, around one-third of the world’s child brides live in India and among them, 23 per cent got married before attaining 18 years of age. The most astonishing factor that allows this evil to flourish as founded by the Ministry of Social Welfare is that the majority of women support this age-old practice on two counts- firstly, the demand for dowry is usually less if the girl is married young, and secondly, the practice is nothing but engagement as the real marriage (gauna in local parlance) takes place when the girl is much older. Hopefully, both the Centre and all the state governments will act swiftly following the Supreme Court’s suggestions and the fight against this menace gain enough teeth to punish those who are deliberately violating the existing law that prohibits child marriage.
The effectiveness of the Child Marriage Restraint (Amended) Act, 1978 can be judged from the fact that mass marriage is solemnised in states like Rajasthan, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu even today, wherein hundreds of girls below 18 get married, virtually making a mockery of it. While making an in-depth study of the said law, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had earlier discovered that it had given no power to the authorities to take the person or persons in custody for the violation of the Act without an order from the Judicial Magistrate. Pointing out the ineffectiveness of the law, the NHRC thus recommended that such offences be made cognizable, non-billable and triable by the Sessions court. So far, no effort has been made to include these suggestions in the said Act; even the amendment to increase the marriageable age for girls from 18 to 22 is still pending. In such a situation, urgent steps should be taken as child marriage causes severe psychological as well as physical damages, as it has been found that maximum maternal deaths take place between 15 and 16 years of age. To bring about change, a mass movement against this menace is necessary besides stringent law. There is no gainsaying that such evil social practices can only be stopped through people’s participation.
