CHILD MARRIAGES IN INDIA: REASONS, CONSEQUENCES AND ITS LEGALITY
Keywords:
CHILD MARRIAGES, INDIA, REASONS, CONSEQUENCES, LEGALITYAbstract
Child marriage, the centuries-long practice has been haunting the advocates of human rights for decades now. From being gore malpractice of child rights to having a negative impact on physical growth, health, mental and emotional development, and educational opportunities of the victims of the practice, the children, it has always been a matter of concern. It affects the victims, especially the little girls who are constrained to marry at a very young age and sometimes to a man of relatively very old age and are bagged with innumerable responsibilities of the household and their sexual harassment starts at a very young age. It does not only affect the victims but society as a whole, since the cycle of destitution, sexual orientation separation, hunger, and illiteracy reinforces. It also affects the maternal and infant mortality rate. The pattern is rife in rural areas than urban areas as the lacking advent of modernization. There are numerous reasons for child marriage in India and various obstructions to its end. impoverishment, weak coercion of laws, patriarchal social norms intended to ensure family honour are substantial assignees that increase the risk of a girl being married off while still a child. Also, girls from the pitiful family are more likely to marry as children, since marriage becomes a root to bring down the size of the family. The cost of marriage plays a big role in families sliding further into poverty, and these high prices bestow to girls being constrained to marry when different functions are occurring in the family.
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References
i 205th Law Commission of India Report titled, “Proposal to Amend the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006
and other Allied Laws”
ii https://unicef.in/Whatwedo/30/Child-Marriage.
iii Chatterjee, Jyotsna, Child Marriage, paper presented at India Social Forum, November 2006, New Delhi
iv (ICRW) International Centre for Research on Women Policy Advisory on Child Marriage
v Supra note 3
vi Black, Maggie, Early Marriage, Child Spouses, UNICEF, Innocenti Research Centre, Digest no.7 (2001), p.10
vii Mensch, Barbara S., Judith Bruce and Margaret S. Greene, The Uncharted Passage: Girls’ Adolescence in the
Developing World, The Population Council (1998), New York
viii Sethuraman, Kavita and Nata Duvvury, The Nexus of Gender Discrimination with Malnutrition: An
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ix Barua, A., Heman Apte, Pradeep Kumar, Care and Support of Unmarried Adolescent Girls in Rajasthan,
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x Black, Maggie, supra note 6, p.11
xi Barua, A., supra note 9, p.54
xii Oto-Oyortey, Nana and Sonita Pobi, Early Marriage and Poverty: Exploring links for policy and programme
development, The Forum on Marriage and the Rights of Women and Girls, London, 2003, p.19
xiii Barua, A., supra note 9, p.26
xiv Somerset, Carron, Early Marriage: Whose Right to Choose? Forum on Marriage and the Rights of Women and
Children, London (2000), p.21
xv Oto-Oyortey, Nana, supra note 12, p.21
xvi Black, Maggie, supra note 6, p.9
xvii Oto-Oyortey, Nana, supra note 12, p.13
xviii Ibid, p. 21
xix Black, Maggie, supra note 6, p.9
xx S.5, The Hindu Marriage Act, No. 25, 1955.
xxi S.13(2)(iv), The Hindu Marriage Act, No. 25, 1955.
xxii Id., S.12(1)(c).
xxiii S.5(ii)(b) & (c), The Hindu Marriage Act, No. 25, 1955
xxiv Jaya Sagade, Child Marriage in India: Socio-Legal and Human Rights Dimensions 79-80 (2005); Sir Din shah
Fardunji Mulla, Principles of Mahomedan Law, 52 & 115 (1907).
xxv Jaya Sagade, Child Marriage in India: Socio-Legal and Human Rights Dimensions 52 & 115 (2005); Sir Din
shah Fardunji Mulla, Principles of Mahomedan Law, 52 & 115 (1907); S. 2, Dissolution of Muslim Marriages
Act No. 8 of 1939
xxvi Id., S.33 & S.60(1).
xxvii Id., S.19.
xxviii S. 5, The Indian Divorce (Amendment) Bill, Act. No. 51, 2011
xxix S.3(1), The Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, No. 3, 1936.
xxx Id., S.30-S.32
xxxi Jaya Sagade, Child Marriage in India: Socio-legal and Human Rights Dimensions 47 (2nd ed. 2012)
xxxii S.30-S.34, The Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, No. 3, 1936.
xxxiii Supra note 34
xxxiv Ibid
xxxv S. 4(c), Special Marriage Act, 1956
xxxvi Id. S. 4(b)
xxxvii ID. S.24(1)(i)
xxxviii prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006
xxxix ID. S.3(1)
xl ID. S.3(3)
xli ID. S.3(4)
xlii ID. S.4(1)
xliii ID. S.5(1)
xliv ID. S.5(4)
xlv ID. S.9
xlvi ID. S.10
xlvii ID. S.11
xlviii ID. S.6
xlix ID. S.12
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