Child marriage in India

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Child marriage in India, according to the Indian law, is a marriage where the woman and man both are younger than 21 years of age. Most child marriages involve girls younger than 21, many of whom are from poor socio-economic conditions.

Child marriages are prevalent in India. Estimates vary widely between sources as to the extent and scale of child marriages. A 2015–2016 UNICEF report estimated that India's child marriage rate is 27%.^[1] The Census of India has counted and reported married women by age, with proportion of females in child marriage falling in each 10 year census period since 1981. In its 2001 census report, India stated at least a few married girls below the age of 10, 1.4 million married girls out of 59.2 million girls aged 10–14, and 11.3 million married girls out of 46.3 million girls aged 15–19.^[2] Times of India reported that 'since 2001, child marriage rates in India have fallen by 46% between 2005 and 2009'.^[3]

During British colonial times, the legal minimum age of marriage was set at 14 for girls and 18 for boys. Child marriage was outlawed in 1929, under Indian law. Under protests from Muslim organisations in undivided India, a Muslim personal law was passed in 1937 that allowed child marriages with consent from the child bride's guardian.^[4] After India's independence in 1947, the act underwent two revisions. The minimum legal age for marriage was increased to 15 for girls in 1949, and to 18 for females and 21 for males in 1978.^[5] The child marriage prevention laws have been challenged in Indian courts,^[4] with some domestic Muslim organizations seeking no minimum age and that the age matter be left to their personal law.^[6][7] Child marriage is an active political subject as well as a subject of continuing litigation under review in the highest courts of India.^[6]

Several states of India have introduced incentives to delay marriages. For example, the state of Haryana introduced the Apni Beti, Apna Dhan program in 1994, which translates to "My daughter, My wealth". It is a conditional cash transfer program dedicated to delaying under-age marriages by providing a government paid bond in her name, payable to her parents, in the amount of ₹25,000 (US$300), after her 18th birthday if she is unmarried.