Laws prohibiting Child Marriage

Considering the Indian scenario, it can be indicated that there have been laws prohibiting child criminal lawyers in bangalore marriage from the past 90 years.

1) Prevention of Child Marriage Act, 2006
One of the significant laws being Prevention of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) 2006, it states that any marriage between a man who is above 18 years of age and a girl below 18 years would be a punishable offence with imprisonment and a fine up to 1 lakh rupees. But the lacuna which exits in this law is that, though PCMA makes child marriage a non-bailable offence, it is voidable at the discretion of the bride.

That is, the child bride has a right to declare her marriage null and void after attaining majority, and if she doesn’t take any measures regarding this, her marriage would still be valid. Considering the social scenario in India under which such marriages happen, it is practically impossible for the bride to go against the norms of the society and her parent’s decisions.

2) Section 5(n) of POCSO
Section 5(n) of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences makes penetrant sexual assault on any child by anyone related to the child or otherwise a punishable offence. In addition to this, clause 6 also states that any sexual act against a girl below 18 years of age, with or without consent would be a punishable offence. Certain exceptions to 375 which allowed husbands to consummate their marriage with wife being 15 to 18 years of age were amended in November 2017, in the case of Independent thought v. Union of India[19].

Therefore, according to POCSO, if the male is an adult and the bride is a minor and any family member of hers forcing, abetting or coercing her into marrying a man before she attains 18 years of age, will be prosecuted. Another significant aspect to be measured here is that, if the state governments strictly comply with these norms, they will have to take action against the various politicians who organize mass weddings which involve child brides.

3) Hindu Marriage Act, 1956
Speaking about Child marriage, it can be said that Hindu Marriage Act rather takes a backseat while dealing with such issues, as it makes only the parties to child marriage liable and not the parents who actually solemnize the marriage. Regarding the girl, the provision states that a girl can get her marriage annulled after attaining 18 only if she was married before 15 years. This again poses as a problem as it has been discussed early that, after a girl is married off at an early age, she becomes completely dependent on the husband and his family and will be left with no resources to support herself and hence, in most of the cases the brides usually do not opt to annul their marriages after attaining the age of majority [20].

Lastly, it can rather be stated that there exist numerous loopholes in the current law that deals with child marriage in India. In addition to this various other factors like that of poverty, lack of education, lack of awareness regarding the law, increase in demand for dowry, preserving the virginity of the girl, various customs and superstitions, lack of protection and safety for girls, act as driving forces in increasing child marriages in India. Hence, if the government strives to bring an end to child marriages in India, it will rather have to focus on bringing to book and addressing the above-mentioned factors.