: Child Marriages Hunt could be counter-productive #WorldNEWSAll While there can be no defence of child marriages or the need to usher in reforms, the method chosen by the Assam chief minister to tackle

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Child Marriages Hunt could be counter-productive #WorldNEWSAll
While there can be no defence of child marriages or the need to usher in reforms, the method chosen by the Assam chief minister to tackle the problem makes little sense.
It is difficult to defend child marriages even though this tradition goes back hundreds of years and is even sanctified with ancient religious codes.
However the sudden decision of Assam government to crack down on the practice and arrest of over 2500 males who have married girls below 18 years the permissible age of marriage is not the solution to the problem.
It is true that reformation must be brought in and regressive customs must be phased out even if these have been prevalent in the society since time immemorial.
Scriptures of various religions provide for child marriages. Travellers to ancient India too had recorded prevalence of such a practice in different communities.
Hemanta Biswa Sarma
Yet the manner chosen by Assam chief minister Hemanta Biswa Sarma in ordering mass arrests is no solution to the problem and can lead to more misery and hardships for the victims of child marriage.
The figures released by the United Nations regarding the prevalence of the practice worldwide are staggering. According to its report the world has an estimated 650 million women married before the age of 18 years.
About a third of them were less than the age of 15 years when they were married. It estimates that over 16 per cent of the girls upto the age of 18 years are currently married. The figures show that it is a gigantic problem.
India has the dubious distinction of having the largest number of such women. Poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, lack of awareness and religious extremes are some of the major reasons for early or child marriages.
While incidents of child marriage are reported from across religions, a vast majority of such cases are reported from the Muslim community which proportionately has a higher percentage of poor, illiterate and religiously orthodox population.
Hindus and Muslim personal laws do not explicitly prohibit child marriage. Under the prevalent laws, marriageable age for females is 18 years while that for males is 21 years.
It would be interesting to note that in 1927 the Legislative Council of India had raised the marriage age of female from 12 to 14 years.

After independence the age was raised to 15 years in 1949 and to 18 years in 1978. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 stipulates imprisonment of two years and a fine of Rs one lakh or both for those violating the law.
While there can be no defence of child marriages or the need to usher in reforms, the method chosen by the Assam chief minister to tackle the problem makes little sense.

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