Recently, two incidents related to the Indian judiciary have shaken the conscience of society. In the 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.
In the 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. If we look at these two incidents together, it becomes clear that India is not liberating its daughters, but is trapping them in a 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.
Imagine a 16-year-old girl who can’t vote, open a bank account, take loans, make contracts, and can’t drive is being told by the state that she is mature for sex or marriage. This contradiction is not just an error of law, but a question mark on the soul of society and justice. If the state does not trust her enough to choose its leader, then how can it trust her to choose a life partner or sexual partner? This is not freedom but legal hypocrisy, where the criminals escape under the cover of law and the victim is held guilty.
Those who argue that “16-year-old girls are capable of giving consent” neither understand science nor the reality of society. Scientifically, at the age of 16, the decision-making part of the brain – the prefrontal cortex – is still developing. In such a situation, amidst social pressure, tradition and family control, “consent” often means psychological pressure or emotional blackmail. So, when courts or policymakers blur the boundaries of protection in the name of “culture” or “autonomy,” they are inadvertently legitimizing exploitation.
In the name of “Muslim personal law”, child marriage is still alive in the name of Islam, sharia and “faith”. But who benefits from this? Not to the girls who lose education, health and independence, but the men and families who define a girl’s life as per their convenience. This is not a defense of culture, but an institutionalized system of victimization – a system that seeks to control both women’s bodies and decisions.
When the age of sexual consent is kept at 16 and the age of marriage at 18 (or made even more flexible), India moves towards a dangerous situation – one of teenage pregnancy, trafficking and unwanted relationships. This legal ambiguity gives more power to men who trap, use, and abandon minor girls. What was called a “teen pregnancy crisis” in the West is now becoming normalized in India in the name of “Islamic law” and “consent”.
Emancipation does not mean that a 16-year-old girl should be given the freedom to be exploited. Real liberation means security, education and real capacity for self-determination. India needs the Child Marriage Prohibition Act to apply equally across all religions, ensure universal access to education and health for adolescent girls, build a social movement that puts safety before tradition, and have a justice system that treats every girl not of age as a child – not by any religious or political definition.
The decision of the Supreme Court exposes the cracks in our moral and constitutional framework. We cannot claim that we are a modern democracy as long as our daughters continue to be crushed between religious laws and social fear. This is not a question of religion or reform – this is a question of justice, morality and the conscience of the nation. A country which once worshiped women as power, is now snatching away the right to safety and respect from the same women. Until every girl in India can grow up without fear, without pressure and without haste, no court, no religion or no government can claim justice.
(The writer is a public policy analyst.)