By Kawanpreet Kaur 

While reserving judgment on an NGO’s plea seeking due implementation of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, the Supreme Court stated that initiatives such as lectures and programmes aimed to create awareness about child marriage do not really bring about a change on the ground level. It observed that while steps like registration of FIR are taken, changes do not occur on social level. 

The matter was heard in April 2023 when the counsel for petitioners informed the court that the issue of child marriage continued to persist to which the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) responded that there was a bill pending since 2021, as per which the women’s age of consent for marriage was to be raised to 21 years. After hearing the matter, the Court directed the Union government to file a status report explaining the data collected from various states bearing on the nature and extent of child marriages, steps taken to implement the provisions of the Prohibition of Child marriage Act 2006 and the policy formulated by the Union government to effectuate the purpose of the Act. The court also directed the government to work with the state governments to apprise the court on the compliance by states of the provision of Section 16(3) for the appointment of the child marriage Prohibition officer. 

In today’s hearing, the ASG apprised the court that the status report called for had been placed on record which showed state-wise data of 29 States/Union Territories on the number of child marriages reported, number of cases of child marriages prevented, number of cases in which FIR was registered, etc. for the past 3 years. It was argued that while five states/Union Territories, i.e. Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Ladakh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland reported zero cases, numbers were high in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana.  

The ASG asserted that the way forward to stop child marriages is by working towards wholesome education and opportunities, skill development for young girls and women. It was also brought to the Court’s attention that most states give additional charge to District Magistrates, etc. to deal with the issue of child marriage. The petitioners suggested to combat this issue some guidance can be given to the government. It was recommended that NALSA can direct district legal services authorities to do field-level enquiry and the working of the schemes targeting child marriages be analyzed to see if anything needs to be changed. 

Accordingly, the Court directed the government to understand the issue and formulate rules and laws. (Society for Enlightenment and Voluntary Action and Anr. v. UOI and Ors.- WP(C) No. 1234/2017) 

Click here to read/download the order.