Legal age for marriage in India: In India the Institution of marriage is so important for the society that it is considered to be the end goal of an individual even if he or she is highly successful in their lives but if they are not married they are not considered acceptable or families are not satisfied.
And a major factor which is very painful or which puts a lot of pressure on an individual in the context of marriage is age. Parents are always worried about their children and when they will get married and then they will be able to take care and play with their grandsons and granddaughters. After a person attains a certain age and at a certain level in their professional life there is a question which always revolves around them and that is “When will you get married?”
Indian societies are so obsessed with the concept of marriage that it is considered to be the ultimate goal of their lives.
After reaching the age of 24 and 25 Indian family’s start putting mental pressure on the children to get married and it is considered to be very normal and part of the life in our Indian families.
Keeping aside the society’s, the political system has also stated the minimum age of marriage for girls to be 18 years and for boys to be 21 years. And most importantly the pressure of marriage is put up on the girl as soon as they complete their education, preparations are made for their wedding, parents start searching for an ideal groom in many families of our society.
But the same was entirely different before array independent times so let’s get back in the history of the ideal marriage age.
History of legal age for marriage in India
The Indian Penal Code of 1860 criminalized any kind of sexual intercourse with a girl below the age of 10 years. After that in the year 1927 , women became forerunners for their rights and therefore raised the demand which led to the introduction of the age consent bill 1927 which made the marriage of a girl below 12 invalid.
Then the act of 1929 came into effect after a lot of struggle and in this act the age of marriage was restricted to 18 and 14 years of age for men and women respectively. It is also known as child marriage restraint act 1929.
It did not come very easily and a lot of struggle took place to make it happen but after its implementation also it didn’t prove to be that much effective and was not followed much and therefore became a kind of Dead Letter in the history.
It was one of the first social reform issues which proved to be a winner of women struggles in India during the pre Independence time. But as we said earlier that this act was not that much effective and that was because of the disagreement among the Hindus and Muslims because of the interference by Britishers in their religious affairs and the princely states were exempted from this act and therefore the Britishers did not wanted to hurt the sentiments of the Hindu and Muslim leaders therefore this act didn’t proof to be that much effective.
These were all the initiatives taken before independence to work in the area of marriage and the age related factors.
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Now let’s talk about the efforts taken after independence in the direction of marriage age related issues.
The Sarda amendment act , 1978
In 1978 the Sharda Act was amended and therefore it changed the marriage age of a woman from 14 to 18 years of age and for men from 18 to 21 years of age. But it was mainly amended to stop the occurrence of the social evil i.e. child marriage which is very much prevalent in our society as we know that the girls at the age of 14 and 15 are not that much strong mentally or physically to be a part of such a responsible institution which demands lot of sensibility and responsibility. And it was popularly known as the Sharda act after the name of its sponsor Harbilas Sarda.
Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006
As we know that till date the cases of child marriage are not ready to stop. States like Rajasthan, Haryana serve as a good example for cases of child marriage. It is considered totally normal in their families to have child marriage and girls are taught and trained to be ideal wise and given the training for the same.
In many rural families of the states women are not allowed to study or get proper education they are considered to be a burden for their families and their four they arrange there marriage is as soon as possible with leads to the development of the Institution of child marriage.
So to keep it in consideration the government implemented the provision of Child Marriage Act 2006 to fight back so social evils prescribed the age of consent for marriage to be 18 and 21 for women and men respectively and severe punishments were introduced to fight back.
Now let’s understand the consequences which are related to early marriage.
Consequences of early marriage
Unwanted pregnancy
At an early age the couple who is newly married is not aware about the responsibilities one has to fulfill after getting married. And therefore there are many cases in which the couple get entangled due to unwanted pregnancy and therefore have to suffer. They are not well educated and do not plan their lives accordingly and are always held by the pressure of the family.
Complications during pregnancy for women
Due to early marriage women are not trained how to bear a child and take care of it therefore they are not at all ready and are not able to take good care of themselves. Their body is also not ready to conceive a child at such an early age and therefore they have to face a lot of complications and issues during their pregnancies. Then the woman has to suffer the pain during that dreadful time.
Lack of education
Due to early marriage women are not given the opportunities to educate themselves and make themselves Independence to take their own decisions of their lives. They are always dependent on someone before marriage that is dependent on the parents and after marriage they are dependent on their husband and this loop continues. This is a very major consequence of early marriage as if our women are not educated they won’t be aware about its consequences and the opportunities that they are keeping aside due to this specific reason. That we should not get married but we need to educate ourselves first and then take a decision like that.
These are some of the major consequences which one has to face due to early marriage.
Way forward
We definitely need to change the perceptions of a society which we can say is deeply entranced and hard to change. But little efforts can definitely make drastic changes. We need to try that from our families first.
The most important factor that plays it’s rule here is the of education and the opportunities that the women need to be given and need to be told about which would empower them and would also make their families understand that how much potential they carry within themselves and there is more life then only marriage the end goal of one’s life should not be marriage there other things also which one has to focus on and need to accomplish them.
And similarly mention also be given the leniency they too are human beings and have the right to make their choices. But the social cultural setup is made in such a way that women are the bearers of all the exploitation, degradation discrimination, pressures etc.
There are other things also when our parents talk about a certain age for marriage, they too have their concerns. But if one is not ready for marriage then we can’t force them to do soo. It is the individual decision to first train our mind to take that decision. It is a matter of whole life and it involves two families and therefore such decisions need to be taken with utter patience and care rather than in any pressure or hurry. We need to reform our socio-cultural system and these changes need to be taken from both sides.
