Has The Rajasthan Government Legitimised Child Marriage?

The Rajasthan assembly recently passed an amendment Bill to The Rajasthan Compulsory Registration of Marriages Act, 2009. It is alleged that the Bill has legitimised child marriage. Here is a reality check on what exactly has happened and what is the law on the subject

- Dr Harsh Surana

IN the last few days, allegations, counter-allegations and explanations have swirled around the issue of whether the Rajasthan assembly has recently passed an amendment Bill to The Rajasthan Compulsory Registration of Marriages Act, 2009, which has legitimised child marriage. It is alleged by many that the new Bill will legitimise child marriage. The Bill passed recently has sought to primarily amend Sections 5 and 8 of the Act dealing with the appointment of Marriage Registration Officer, the age and the duty of the parties to a marriage to submit the memorandum for registration. It is further contended that the amendment Bill violates the law against child marriage and would pave the way for wedding of minor children, seen as a social evil.

Rajasthan had emerged as the state with the highest incidence of child marriage, both among boys (8.6 percent), and girls (8.3 percent) in the 2011 census. According to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights’ report based on the data from the National Family Health Survey for Rajas than, collected in 2015-16, 16.2 percent of the girls aged between 15 and 19 years were married off before the age of 18 in the state, with variations across districts, against the national average of 11.9 percent.

This is happening in Rajasthan, where child marriage is considered a regressive custom and where in 1927, the Sharda Act (Child Marriage Restraint Act) came into existence and was later replaced by the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.