Madras High Court may increase marriage age for girls

Madurai: Increasing the legal age of marriage for girls from minimum 18 years was mooted by the Madras High Court on Wednesday as a way out to check instances of hundreds of women getting married at a young age only to be separated a few years later.

“For a man, the marriage age is fixed as 21 years. For a girl it is 18 years. But both boys and girls grow in school atmosphere till the age of 17,” a division bench of justices S. Manikumar and V.S. Ravi said, and asked, “How can girls be considered more matured at 18 than boys?”

The HC observed this while suggesting some amendments to the Indian Majority Act 1875 and the Child Marriage Restraint Act so that it addresses the issue of the minimum age of marriage of girls.

Noting that the Hindu law prescribes 21 years as marriageable age for men, the court wondered whether it could be said the girl could acquire social, psychological maturity and ready for marriage on attaining 18 years.

The judges said the High Court was registering a large number of habeas corpus petitions with regard to girls who run away with boys at the age of 18.

No parent would like his child to walk away from family and getting married on her own in their absence, it said.

It was to avoid these factors there was need to consider increasing the marriageable age of girls to 21 or more than 18, the bench said. The girl may be be fit to drive scooter, get employment at 18, but all that could not be equated with  maturity for marriage, it said.