Child Marriage in India

Anděla Kahounová

Have you ever heard about marriages in India? Is there a difference between Indian law and European law regarding marriages? Are the brides there frankly content?

In India, it's a marriage where either the woman is below the age of 18 or the man is below the age of 21. Therefore, most child marriages involve underage women, (many of these women are) in poor socio-economic conditions.

Now, let's learn something about the historic background. Child marriage was outlawed in 1929, under Indian law. In the British colonial times, the legal minimum age of marriage was set at 14 for girls and 18 for boys. However, due to the protests by Muslim organizations in undivided British India, a personal law Shariat Act was passed in 1937 that allowed child marriages with consent from a girl's guardian.

After the independence and adoption of the Indian constitution in 1950, the child marriage act has undergone several revisions. The minimum legal age for marriage, since 1978, has been 18 for women and 21 for men. The child marriage prevention laws have been challenged in Indian courts, with some Muslim Indian organizations seeking no minimum age and the matter of age is left to their personal law.

Interesting facts:

• 27% of girls in India are married before their 18th birthday and 7% are married before the age of 15.

• Some girls are promised marriage before they are born in order to "secure" their future. Once they reach puberty, guana or "send-off" ceremonies take place and they are sent to their husband's home to commence married life.

• Girls are often married off at a younger age because less dowry is expected for younger brides.

Questions to think about:

Try to visualize your marriage now.

Can you imagine that consent for your marriage could give your guardian?

It would be probably with a much older man and you could do nothing with it.