Ever since the central government announced the move to raise legal age of marriage of girls to 21 years there are many voices being raised against the move. OSCPCR – The Odisha State Commission for Protection of Child Rights is not in favor of raising the age of marriage to 21 years for women as this could promote unwedded pregnancies among women.

According to  OSCPCR Chairperson Sandhayabati Pradhan said, “The change of legislation in isolation will never be able to stop child marriages unless there is socio-behavioral change among the parents and the community.” Ms. Pradhan further added that there are many other factors responsible for child marriage which need to be tackled first. Poverty, lack of employment, lack of education and certain old customs and traditions are also some of the factors to be looked into. Solely increasing the marriage age of women is not the right solution to the problem.

OSCPCR recommended the legal age of marriage for both boys and girls to 18 years instead of 21 years. The committee proposed in making a suitable environment for girls through education and employment so that the girl is independent and can take decision of marriage according to her own will without any pressure from parents and society.

Kerala High Court Approves Online Marriage

In an exceptional case of court marriage the Kerala High Court allowed online solemnization of marriage. This decision was taken keeping in mind the current covid crisis due to omicron variant.

The order to allow online solemnization of marriage was passed on the petition of a Lawyer Rintu Thomas who moved to court asking for the court to direct the marriage officer to solemnize her marriage with her partner living abroad. The lawyers representing Rintu Thomas submitted to court that she had submitted a notice for her marriage and her fiance had already booked the tickets to fly to India on 22nd December, but due to current travel restrictions in pandemic he is unable to come to India for marriage. The court after giving a patient ear allowed the petitioner to solemnize her marriage online.

The court directed the concerned marriage officer to solemnize the marriage online in the presence of witness of both parties. Both the parties had to summit their legal documents like passport to marriage officer. On meeting the specific terms and conditions of marriage as per court order, the marriage can be solemnized and marriage certificate can be issued under the special marriage act.

Minimum Marriage Age For Girl Now is 21

The Central Government has given nod to increase the marriageable age for women in India from 18 to 21 years. Since a very long time their was a demand to make amendments to the current marriageable age of women.  This is a welcome move keeping in mind the welfare of women.

Earlier the marriageable age for women was 18 years. A special task force headed by Jaya Jaitley including V K Paul, officials of health ministry, Ministry of Women and Child Development played crucial role in making this proposal.

Several NGOs and Universities were roped in to reach into rural areas of India specifically in Rajasthan where child marriages are still very common.  Most of the youth were in favor of increasing the age limit.

The task force has few more recommendations like introducing sex education in school curriculum, setting up of polytechnics for women where they can learn various skills to stand on their own feet. All this will help in making women more educated and independent.  Once a woman is independent and earning she is no more a burden on family and she can take her own decisions wisely. The woman’s family will also think twice before getting their daughter married too early just for the sake of society.

Plight of a Woman married to Muslim Man in Bareilly

A women in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly has filed a compliant against her family members for harassing her husband and his family. The woman married a Muslim man out of her own will and converted to Islam. But her parents who were against the marriage filed an FIR against her in laws for forceful abduction of their daughter and her conversion to another religion by her husband and his family.

The woman said she married the man of her choice 10 months back and now she is pregnant.  She needs protection from her own family members as they have been constantly harassing her husband’s family.  The woman and her husband moved to Allahabad High Court and the court passed the order in appellant’s favor stating that her husband and in laws should not be arrested, but despite the court orders the girl’s family continue to harass the husband and his family. 

Read about How to get marriage certificate?

Child marriage has long been abolished in India but in some part of rural India, particularly in rural areas of Rajasthan child marriages are still very much prevalent. In a shocking video clip two kids who are barely 10-12 year old are getting married.

Just few days back on on December 7 two child marriages took place in a rural area of Bhilwara. Niether the police nor the concerned administration came to know about the weddings. In another case reportedly from Chittorgarh a fourteen year old girl approached SDM office to stop her marriage. The girl’s family was asked to sign a bond under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act. Under this act until and unless a person reaches the legal age of marriage he or she cannot be forced to get married. It is only after reaching to the required legal age a boy or girl can get married. Marriage cannot be forced on an individual, consent of boy and girl is necessary for getting married.

Also Read : How to do Court Marriage in Ghaziabad?

#भीलवाड़ा ज़िले से बाल विवाह का वीडियो सामने आया. जिसमें नन्हे-मुन्ने दुल्हा-दुल्हन एक दूसरे से भगवान के ढोक देते समय झगड़ कर मस्ती कर रहे है.#RajasthanNews #bhilwara pic.twitter.com/9oDEEqLeOo

— सूर्यरेखा (@suryarekha_in) December 8, 2021

According to a local leader of political party Child Marriages are still very common in Rajasthan as it is still backward. There is not much progress in rural areas. The government needs to pay attention in development and education in these rural areas to abolish child marriage completely.

Woman Ready For her Twelfth Wedding

Marriage for most is once in a lifetime affair and for many it is meant for keeps. Polygamy is restricted in most religions, in Muslim religion four marriages are allowed. In western countries marriages don’t last that long and people marry more than once.

A 52 year old woman Monette Dias has been married eleven times and she is all set to tie the knot for the twelfth time with a 57 year divorcee man. This man too has been divorced twice. According to the lady she falls in love easily and has been proposed many times by men. Her longest marriage lasted for 10 years and shortest only for couple of weeks.

Read our article on same sex marriage

Countries Where Same Sex Marriage is Legal

Same Sex marriage has remained a taboo for many nations since ages, but now many countries have opened up to same sex marriages. Such marriages are now legal in 30 countries.

Netherland was the first country to allow same sex marriage in April 2001. After this many other European nations like Austria, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and most recently Switzerland also made same sex marriage legal.

Chile is the newest country to have accepted same sex marriages

In Asia Taiwan was the first country to allow gay marriages. Australia and New Zealand too passed laws in favor of gay marriages in 2017 and 2013 respectively. India still does not recognizes same sex marriage. It is reported that at least eight petitions are pending before court for legalization of same sex marriage under Hindu Marriage Act, Special Marriage Act and Foreign Marriage Act.

Learn more about the legal marriage procedure in India