Before they are old enough...

Recently, two incidents related to the Indian judiciary have shaken the conscience of society.

- Gajendra Singh

Inthe first instance the Supreme Court refused to apply the Child Marriage Prohibition Act equally to all religions. This means that child marriage may still be legal under Muslim personal laws. The Central Government's petition demanding that child marriage be declared equally prohibited in all religions, so that all girl children get equal legal protection, was rejected.

Inthe second incident, senior advocate Indira Jaising filed a petition in the Supreme Court, proposing to reduce the "age of consent" of adolescent girls from 18 to 16 years. Her argument was that today's teenagers are mentally and biologically more mature than ever before, hence they should have the right to decide on their bodies and relationships. Ifwe lookat these two incidents together, itbecomes clear that Indiais not liberating its daughters, but is trapping them ina new web of legal insecurity.

According to reliable statistics, there are approximately 22.3 crore girls in India who have entered into marriage or marital relationship before the age of 18 years. Similarly, about 23 per cent of women aged between 20 to 24 years were married before the age of 18. It is clear from these figures that millions of adolescent girls in India are still not completely safe from child marriage and related exploitation.