Violation of children’s constitutional rights due to child marriages : SC

New Delhi – The Supreme Court on Friday stressed on legal enforcement, judicial measures and technology-driven initiatives to prevent child marriages in the country. A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud and Justice J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra passed a slew of directions in this regard. The Supreme Court has opined that child marriage is a serious social evil and the Union and state governments must take steps to end this evil practice. In the directions it is said that, the Child Marriage Prevention Act cannot be affected by any ‘personal law’. This loophole in the law deprives the ‘spouse of choice’ of their liberty. Such marriages violate constitutional rights.

The Supreme Court observed,

1. The practice of child marriage deprives children of their freedom, self-determination and the right to develop their childhood. It also has an adverse effect on boys and girls.

2. The ‘Prevention of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill’ was introduced in Parliament on 21^st December 2021; but later it was referred to the Standing Committee. Parliament should consider amending the ‘Prevention of Child Marriage Act 2006’ to declare child marriage illegal.

3. There are some loopholes in the current law of the country. Separate policies should be made to account for different communities. The court gave several directions to the Centre, States, District Administration, Gram Panchayat and Judiciary.

4. Under the title of “legal enforcement”, states and Union Territories (UT) were directed to appoint officers solely responsible for discharging the functions of Child Marriage Prohibition Officers (CMPO) at the district level. It said to enable personal accountability and ensure immediate preventive measures are taken against any planned solemnisation of child marriages, each state and UT will upload quarterly reports from CMPOs on their official websites. The ministries of Women and Child Development and Home in each state and UT were further directed to conduct quarterly performance reviews of CMPOs and law enforcement agencies to assess among others, the effectiveness of child marriage prevention initiatives and response times and outcomes of reported case.