MAKE EQUAL MARRIAGE AGE FOR BOTH SEXES!
India is a land of gender discrimination from time immemorial. Even up to this 21st century, women are discriminated against in this ‘land of gods’ or the ‘devobhoomi’; so much so, that some of our laws too are discriminatory and derogatory to women. The most discriminatory being the provision of the 3 years gap in the ‘minimum marriageable ages’ of a man and a woman in India!
The present marriage age bar (under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 and the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955) of 21 years for boys and 18 years for girls is not based upon the principle of equality. For example, at the age of 21, a boy turns out to be a graduate from a university, whereas a girl of 18 is just senior secondary (10+2) passed. Thus by law also women are 3 years educationally backward than the men. And this is perhaps the most discriminatory law in India which keeps females always 3 years behind their male counterparts. Why not both 21, so that both may have equal education and career at the time of marriage?
In this sense, the present age bar of 21 and 18 years is a violation of Article 14 (Equality before Law) of the Indian Constitution, because keeping nearly half the population of a nation educationally backward than the another half, is a blot in our democracy, the so-called ‘largest democracy in the world’!
Hence, there is a need to make the ‘marriage age bar’ under the Special Marriage Act of 1954 and the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 (both) the same (equal) for both the sexes at 21 years.
I have started an Online Petition on the change.org (since 23-07-2015) in this regard:
https://www.change.org/p/the-hon-ble-law-minister-government-of-india-new-delhi-%E0%A4%B2%E0%A4%A1%E0%A4%BC%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B2%E0%A4%A1%E0%A4%BC%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%80-%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%80-%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B9-%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%80-%E0%A4%89%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0-%E0%A4%AC%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%AC%E0%A4%B0-%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%80-%E0%A4%9C%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%8F-make-equal-marriage-age-for-both-sexes?recruiter=57668134&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=fb_send_dialog&rp_sharecordion_checklist