Marriage bill tabled in Lok Sabha, garners mixed reactions from opposition

New Delhi, 22nd December, 2021: The Union Cabinet Minister for Women & Child Development Smriti Irani on Tuesday tabled the contentious ‘Prohibition of Child marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021’ in Lok Sabha, which was then sent to the standing committee.

The bill, which proposes to increase the legal age of women’s marriage from 18 to 21, has garnered mix reactions from political leaders and social activists.

While some have hailed it as a necessary step towards gender equality, others have termed the bill as an encroachment of personal freedom of youth. Some have also criticized the govt for rushing the bill in the parliament.

Commenting on the bill on Twitter, Asaduddin Owisi, President AIMIM said, “Retrogressive amendment. It’s against right to freedom under Article 19. An 18-yr-old can choose a PM, can have a live-in relationship but you are denying right to marriage. What have you done for 18-yr-old? Women labour force participation in India lower than Somalia.”

He said the marriage age in many US states is as low as 14 and in the UK and Canada it is 16, adding that these nations improved the human development of young people so that they can make “informed decisions rather than fixing arbitrary age restrictions.”

Accusing Modi of encroaching personal freedom, Owaisi wrote, “Modi govt acts like a Mohalla Uncle. Deciding what we eat, who/when we marry, what God we worship, etc,”

“It’s time to stop thinking of young people as children in perpetuity. They should be allowed the space to think & decide for themselves,” he added.

Accusing the Modi govt of bypassing necessary discussion with stakeholders on the bill, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, said, “We’d like to advise the Govt that mistakes happen when work is done in haste. A lot of discussion is being done in India over this matter. Govt has neither spoken to any stakeholder nor consulted any state. We demand that the Bill be referred to Standing Committee.”

Saugta Roy, TMC MP and Supriya Sule, NCP Leader slammed the govt for rushing the bill. Roy said, “It is being brought in hurry! This bill needs total discussion among all stakeholders. The minority people are in total oppose to the bill.”

“It’s the 2nd or 3rd time consecutively, they’re aggressively bringing Bills & nobody from Oppn is consulted. Whatever is discussed in Business Advisory Committee is never implemented on floor of House. I want to condemn this new practice which this govt is doing,” said Sule.

SP leader ST Hasan also opposed the bill saying that delay in marriage can result in infertility.

“The fertility age of women ranges from 16-17 years to 30 years. Proposals for marriage start coming at the age of 16. If the marriage is delayed, there are two disadvantages: One is the possibility of infertility. The second is that children are not settled when one is ageing. When you are in your last decade or so of life, your children are still students. We are breaking the natural cycle,” he said.

I believe that when a girl is mature and attains the age of fertility, she should get married. If a girl is mature at 16, she can get married at 16. If she can vote at 18, why can’t she get married?” he added.

Hasan also made an absurd comment saying that girls will start watching dirty films if their marriage is delayed.

While most of the opposition has slammed the bill, some, even in the opposition have endorsed the bill. One such prominent name is of senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram. He earlier tweeted in support of the move to equalise the legal marriage age of both genders, though he advised the govt to make this amended law applicable from 1st January 2023 or later and said that 2022 should be used for a massive campaign on the benefits of marrying only after a boy or girl attained the age of 21.

Hailing the bill, Mir Junaid, President, J&K workers party, tweeted, “Financial independence is the heart of women’s emancipation from patriarchy. You can not have free women if they are not financially independent. That’s why raising marriage age of girls to 21, is a step in the right direction.”

Since last 43 years, the legal age for marriage is 18 for women and 21 for men. The last change was made in 1978 in the Sharda Act of 1929 by increasing the marriage age from 15 to 18 years.