Retain marriage age of girls at 18, urges OSCPCR chief

Bhubaneswar: Odisha State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (OSCPCR) chairperson Sandhyabati Pradhan has voiced concern against the proposal to raise the marriage age of girls from 18 to 21.
In a letter to Vinay P Sahasrabuddhe, chairperson of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, Pradhan urged him “to consider not raising the legal age of marriage of girls to 21, rather keeping 18 as the minimum legal age for both boys and girls.”
OSCPCR is a statutory body and a key stakeholder of the state government in the fight to end child marriage. The Sahasrabuddhe-led parliamentary panel is currently examining the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021, that proposes to raise the marriageable age of girls to 21 and make it uniform for boys as well. The bill was referred to the panel for further scrutiny after it was introduced in Lok Sabha on December 21.
Arguing against raising the minimum age bar, the OSCPCR chief wrote that the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and Integrated Child Protection Scheme have the scope to extend support to vulnerable children only up to the age of 18. “In such circumstances there will be no space to provide support to a child bride/groom in between the age of 19 to 21 if rescued from child marriage,” she wrote.
“The POCSO Act has restricted consensual sex up to the age of 18. This implies that someone may have sexual act after 18 but won’t be able to marry till 21, will create new sets of issues like increasing unwed mothers and foeticide thereafter,” Pradhan added.
Stating that legislation alone has never been able to check child marriage, she pointed out the National Crime Records Bureau data which showed 785 cases were registered under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act in 2020, which was 523 in 2019 and 501 in 2018. On the other hand, National Family Health Survey-V shows 23.3% girls had been married before the legal age of 18, she wrote.
Pradhan said change of legislation only will never be able to stop child marriage. “Socio-behavioural change among parents and community is needed,” she said, adding, “Factors such as distress and poverty, patriarchal norms and lack of opportunity for schooling and jobs contribute to child marriage.”
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