HIMACHAL PRADESH RAISES WOMEN’S MARRIAGEABLE AGE TO 21 YEARS

Why in the news?

  • The Himachal Pradesh Assembly approved the bill for amendment of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2024, increasing the age of maturity for women from 18 years to 21 years.
  • Health, Social Justice, and Empowerment Minister Dhani Ram Shandil supported this change for increasing women’s education, employment and health.

Key Amendments to the PCM Act:Key Amendments to the PCM Act:

  • The Bill also removes the sex-based distinction in the previous definition of this term to define a ‘child’ as anybody under the age of twenty one.
  • It affords a super-ordinate status over the aforementioned laws, customs or religion so that the new marriage age must be complied with throughout the state without exception.
  • The Bill also increases the time limit for filing of petitions for annulling marriages to five years after attaining the age of majority from two years current.

Next Steps for the Bill:Next Steps for the Bill:

  • As the Bill affects a central law, any amendment which is made to it must be referred to the President under Article 254(2) of the Constitution of India.
  • The Bill will be presented to the Governor of Himachal Pradesh who will forward it to President Droupadi Murmu as a prerequisite for the Bill to become statute.
source:toi
Understanding the Historical Perspectives on Age of Marriage in India:

Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 (Sarda Act):

  • This means that the minimum legal age for a girl to be married is 14-years and the minimum legal age for a boy is 18-years.
  • Was targeting the vice that had become rampant in most societies, the marriage off juvenile.

Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006:

  • Replaced the 1929 Act, criminalising child marriages.
  • Increased the marriage age for females to 18 years while for the males to 21 years.

Some of the important provisions made by the Himachal Pradesh Amendment Bill :

  • For instance, the Bill seeks to change the Child Marriage Act of 2006, which seeks to alter the legal marrying age of women in the state of Himachal Pradesh from 18 years to 21years.
  • It affects the current provision of a situation where a girl can repudiate the marriage before s/he attains the age of 20 years, the new age limit is presumed to complement the emergent age of 21.

Context of the 2021 Central Bill:

  • The 2021 Bill aimed at equalising the age to marry for men and women as proposed by the Jaya Jaitley Committee.