The Muslim League’s women wing has opposed the proposed move to hike the legal marriageable age of women from 18 to 21 years in a letter written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him against taking a ‘hasty’ decision on the important social issue.
The letter, written by the secretary of Indian Union Women League, P K Noorbana Rasheed, says delaying the age of marriage will give way to “live-in relationships” and “illegitimate relations”.
She said when many developing countries had brought down the legal age of marriage from 21 to 18 years considering the biological and social needs, it is not proper for India to take a hasty decision in favour of raising women’s legal age for marriage.
She said instead of implementing the Prohibition of Child Marriages Act 2006 in letter and spirit, attempts to raise the marriageable age of women was unfair.
“There was a report recently, that in rural areas, 30% of women are getting married before they attain the age of 18 years. What is the point of taking such a decision when existing laws are not implemented effectively?” she asked. Last year Kerala had reported 300-odd cases of under-age marriages.
She said proper discussion was needed before arriving at a decision. The Muslim League, however, said the party was yet to take a formal stand on this issue and its women’s wing’s position was independent.
The central government had constituted a 10-member team under Jaya Jaitley to consider increasing the age of women for marriage. It has recently submitted its report recommending increasing the marriageable age of women from 18 to 21 years.
