Rajasthan passes bill to register child marriages, What does that mean ?

Congress led Rajasthan has passed a bill to amend an act on mandatory registration of marriages, including child marriages, with the opposition party BJP staging a walkout from the assembly. The assembly passed the Rajasthan Compulsory Registration of Marriages (Amendment) Bill, 2021, which amends the Rajasthan Compulsory Registration of Marriages Act, 2009, on Friday (Sep'17) and under which information on child marriage must be furnished by their parents or guardians within 30 days of the wedding.

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• What's The Story?

According to the new law, the marriage registration officer will do the registration up to the block level. The bill provides that if the girl's age at the time of marriage is less than 18 years and the boy's age is less than 21, then her parents will have to inform the registration officer within 30 days. 

In case of child marriages, the parents of boys and girls will inform the registration officer by giving a memorandum in the prescribed format. Based on this, the registration officer will register that child marriage. This provision has been made in Section 8 of the Compulsory Registration of Marriages Act. Earlier, there were marriage registration officers at the district level but now provision has been made in the bill up to the block level.

BJP MLAs staged a walkout from the House while questioning the need for registration and the purpose of the bill when child marriage would remain illegal. But the government claims that the bill has been brought on the basis of a Supreme Court order. The opposition raised questions on the need for the registration of child marriages and demanded the withdrawal of the bill.

Replying to the debate on the bill, Parliamentary Affairs Mr. Dhariwal said that the registration of child marriage does not mean giving validity and argued that registration of child marriages does not mean giving them legitimacy. Action will be taken against those who organize child marriages even after registering it. 

Mr. Dhariwal asserted that the Supreme Court, in a 2006 judgment in Seema vs Ashwini Kumar case, had directed that registration of all types of marriages should be mandatory. He argued that Registration of child marriages is not meant to legitimize them and said that if a minor is married, then s/he will have the right to annul it as soon as s/he attains adulthood. 

Social activists have opposed this controversial bill. Dr. Kriti Bharti, the managing director of Saarthi Trust in Jodhpur, who has got dozens of child marriages annulled in recent years, says the bill reflects ‘the double standards of state government. When all the countries are trying to eradicate child marriages, the Rajasthan government is virtually making an effort to promote them. This is just to please the Jati Panches which are the vote banks for the part."

• What's Next ?

Though the bill is passed with mention of the Supreme courts judgement to register all type of marriage, the bill questions government's double standard on this issue as the state is already facing huge roadblocks ending child marriage for quite sometime now. If it is done solely on the purpose of please a group of people to lure their votes then this definitely puts the country's fight against child marriage backward.