Revision as of 04:16, 7 June 2015

Number of married and separated teenagers in major states, 10-14 years of age; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India

Underage marriages

Age at the time of marriages: Males and females; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India

The Times of India Apr 03 2015

CENSUS 2011 - In 33% of marriages, women weren't 18

Subodh Varma

Far-reaching changes seem to be occurring in the way marriages are fixed in India, and one of these is the age at which marriages take place. About one-third of all married women in the country tied the knot before turning 18. Among men, this proportion was much smaller at just 6%. But, the overwhelming majority of women got married by the time they were 25, revealing social pressures -and perhaps lack of employment -still at work.

These and related findings, including a rising trend of men and women not marrying at all, emerge from the recently released Census 2011 data on marriage.

Among those married up to four years prior to 2011, around 17% of women and just 3% men were below 18 years of age at the time of marriage. To compare this with the past, we can look at the age at marriage of people married 20 or 30 or even 40 years ago. Among such mid dle aged and elderly persons, 50% of women and 16% of men reported getting married before they were 18.

So, are people marrying later? Yes and no. Clearly , much less people are marrying before the legally permitted ages of 18 years for women and 21 years for men, compared to earlier. But here's another fact: 92% of women were married by the time they reached 25 years of age. This was the case among those married up to four years before the Census in 2011. Among women married for 20 to 29 years, a huge 96% had got married by the time they reached the age of 25.

For men, the situation was different earlier, and it has changed even more in recent years. Among men mar ried in the past four years, nearly one-third tied the knot after they had reached 26. Between 20 and 30 years ago, the proportion of such men was 22%. Forty years ago, 12% men married after age 26.

“Age at marriage is delayed, possibly due to increasing levels of education and campaigns to delay marriage,“ said Rajni Palriwala, professor of sociology at Delhi University . Another factor is finding the right match because nowadays, criteria beyond caste and present parental economic status are brought in and men's economic status is more uncertain, she told TOI.

What is the reason for the continuing trend of women getting married in their early 20s? Prevalent ideas in society about a woman's economic, social, and sexual security can is the main reason behind this, says Palriwala.

“For women and their families, values of marriage, ideas of reproductive period, stigma and perceptions of so cial and sexual dangers of single women, persisting ideas of marriage as women's primary life trajectory , and adverse sex ratio means that marriage is not delayed beyond the age seen as ideal for reproduction,“ she said.

The Census data also shows more men and women remain unmarried than earlier. In 2011, about 6.4% of all persons older than 25 years were unmarried. That works out to about 3.89 cr people -2.89 crore men and 1 crore women. In 2001, the proportion of never married persons in the above 25 years age group was slightly lower at 5.3%.That's 2.5 crore persons -1.95 crore men and 56 lakh women.

Palriwala explains that adverse sex ratios mean that in any age group there are more men than women and at first marriage for women, the more eligible men will be matched while others remain unmarried.“Long distance marriage for men in more prosperous areas has emerged as a path but not a solution. So there's persisting non-marriage for men,“ Palriwala explained.

Prohibition of Child Marriage Act

Tough to fix age of marriage for girls: Apex court

Says SC, Upholds High Courts’ Judgments Validating Marriage Of Minors Dhananjay Mahapatra TNN The Times of India 2013/07/25

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it was difficult to arrive at a straightjacket formula on the marriageable age of girls to fit every case.

Commenting on identical verdicts by Delhi and Andhra Pradesh high courts which had allowed underage girls to marry their lovers, a bench of Justices J S Khehar and Dipak Misra said, “We do not find anything wrong in the two cases decided by the high courts... The parties have remained together. The families have remained united.”

Eight years ago, two high courts allowed minor girls to marry after they acknowledged that they had eloped voluntarily with their beaux, leading the National Commission for Women to rush to the Supreme Court expressing fear that this would legitimize marriage of minors — an offence under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act.

Wide disparity in laws about marriageable age of girls

The NCW had said that given the wide disparity in various laws on the issue of marriageable age of girls, there was an urgent need to bring uniformity by addressing the question: “what is the correct statutory age for a girl to wed”.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it was difficult to arrive at a straightjacket formula on marriageable age of girls to fit every case. “We do not find anything wrong in the two cases decided by the high courts,” a bench of Justices J S Khehar and Dipak Misra said.

Delhi high court/ 2005; Andhra Pradesh high court/ 2006

The Delhi high court on October 5, 2005 and the Andhra Pradesh high court on February 1, 2006 had allowed underage girls to marry their lovers after dropping kidnapping charges registered against the men by police.

While assuring those whose marriages were held valid by the HCs not to worry and carry on with their lives, the SC in 2006 asked all courts not to draw inspiration from these two HC orders.

All cases need not fit the same formula

The bench of Justices Khehar and Misra said on Wednesday, “How can we say all cases must fit to the same formula? As long as there is no extraneous consideration, coercion, malice, misuse or assault, the HCs were perfectly placed to pass these orders. The parties have remained together. The families have remained united.”

In conflict with Prohibition of Child Marriage Act?

NCW counsel Aparna Bhat said there were laws in conflict with “secular laws like Prohibition of Child Marriage Act and permitted underage girls to marry” and requested the court to find an answer.

The bench said, “The two cases dealt by the high courts were not those where the girls were lured away or enticed. Can we pass an order annulling the marriage now? Have the girls who have now become adults given a statement contrary to what they had told the HCs then? As far as uniformity of marriageable age is concerned, the NCW must approach the appropriate authority. Who are we to bring in uniformity.”

The bench added NCW should register its protest when taking up cases where it finds the women were harassed, coerced or misused.

Issue of uniformity kept open

The court disposed of NCW’s appeals filed against the two HC judgments but kept open NCW’s plea for bringing in uniformity in legislations on marriageable age of girls.

It gave eight weeks to NCW and additional solicitor general Indira Jaising to hold consultations with stakeholders and report back to the court.