News Analysis |
In a landmark ruling, on Wednesday, Indian Supreme Court has termed the Child marriage a social evil which endangers the health and life of the child. Indian Apex court elaborated that sex with an underage wife will be considered as rape. This widely applauded ruling could potentially affect millions of girls in India.
Though hailed by many, the enforcement of the law remains the most significant challenge. Previously, in India, certain laws allowed men to have sex with a married girl as young as 15.
The persistence of Child marriages due to poverty, patriarchal social norms and customs, low education and the inability of the government to enforce a required standard has been an impediment to progress in the developing countries
In the recent past, the number of rapes and sex-related incidents has increased considerably in India. For example, in 2015, more than 34,000 rape cases were reported to India’s National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Among them, 70% were child brides, and 40% were the married women between the age of 15 and 49.
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Besides, the study had found that one in five girls in urban areas and one in four girls in rural areas went into marriage before the age of 18. Naturally, such disturbing figures required a reasonable and logical solution. Now, this clause is removed. The clause part of the law on rape stated that intercourse between a man and his wife was permissible as long as she was 15.
According to the new rule, in case of forced sex (rape) under the age of 18, the victim would have the legal right to charge their husbands with rape. However, they must ensure that complaint is registered within a year of an enforced sex.
The early-age menstruation is unnatural in most of the cases due to lousy quality food intake. One must understand this doesn’t make a girl eligible to get married. It is merely a reaction of a body to substandard food products
It is indeed a ray of hope for the long sufferer of this underage marital agony. While on the other hand, in Pakistan, yesterday, Senate body has rejected the amendments to the child marriage act as un-Islamic.
The chairman standing committee, Rehman Malik had declared increasing the minimum age of girls to marry from 16 to 18 as a direct contradiction to Islamic injunctions. Citing the consultations with religious scholars, Malik argued that it was allowed in Islamic doctrines to get married before the age of 18.
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Using religious orthodoxy and ignoring the facts which rather than facilitating the humans are making them suffer is questionable. The religious doctrines were crafted to make human life comfortable and get them out of misery. The women of the previous generations spanning from Neolithic to the Victorian era had a very short span of life.
The average age of women was 35 according to the study conducted by Gregory Clark in this book-A farewell to Alms: A brief economic history of the world. Women typically used to get married at very early age. And an average number of children per woman was 12. It was the time when living standards of the world were more or less same.
The religious doctrines were crafted to make human life comfortable and get them out of misery. The women of the previous generations spanning from Neolithic to the Victorian era had a very short span of life
Other than the occasional fluctuations, women living standard remains same due to stagnancy in real wage and economic growth. In those times, the nutritional value of food intake was better than today. Despite this fact, women suffered early marriage which coupled with less food intake reduced their life expectancy.
Currently, the national and transnational organizations are capitalizing the agriculture sector both in Pakistan and India by supplanting it with the needs which could maximize their profitability. Corporate interests have reduced the grain quality. Even in the meat industry, the situation is appalling. The intake of chicken apparently results in early and dramatic hormonal changes in girls in Pakistan.
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The early-age menstruation is unnatural in most of the cases due to lousy quality food intake. One must understand this doesn’t make a girl eligible to get married. It is merely a reaction of a body to substandard food products.
Though hailed by many, the enforcement of the law remains the most significant challenge. Previously, in India, certain laws allowed men to have sex with a married girl as young as 15
In the light of this discussion, the acts of Indian Apex court are praiseworthy. The girls of the past fizzled out so early in life due to lack of food and child marriages. Though the standard of living has markedly improved, the girls don’t get healthy and mature enough to take the responsibility of the marriage.
The persistence of Child marriages due to poverty, patriarchal social norms and customs, low education and the inability of the government to enforce a required standard has been an impediment to progress in the developing countries. Indian has taken a right step towards rooting out the forced sex in child marriages.
