Govt panel report says fix marriage age at 18 for both sexes, to be presented in SC

The report has also taken on what it sees as discriminatory practices in personal laws

The outdated adultery law should be amended, a separate legislation for dealing with 'honour killings' should be introduced and the marriageable age for both boys and girls should be fixed at 18 years, a government-appointed high-level panel had suggested a year ago. 

Now, the report, which was not made public, will be placed before the Supreme Court, The Indian Express reported on Friday.  

 

Fix marriageable age for both sexes at 18: 

According to Indian Express, citing the recommendations of the 18th law commission that 18 years should be recognised as the legal age of marriage for both boys and girls, the panel found The Hindu Marriage Act and the Special Marriage Act, which have set a lower age for girls at 18 years and 21 years for boys, to be discriminatory. 

Taking on personal laws:

According to the report, the panel, in its review of "women and family laws with respect to marriage, divorce, custody, inheritance and succession", has suggested that the "implicit gender biases" in personal laws – of Hindus, Muslims and Christians – and also in other legislation should be removed.

In taking on what it sees as discriminatory practices in personal laws, the panel has also struck out at practices like triple talaq and polygamy.

The report is being presented before the Supreme Court at a time when, earlier last month, it had sought the Centre's response in a plea challenging the constitutionality of Muslim practices of polygamy, triple talaq (talaq-e-bidat) and nikah halala. 

Talaq-e-bidat is a Muslim man divorcing his wife by pronouncing more than one talaq in a single tuhr (the period between two menstruations), or in a tuhr after coitus, or pronouncing an irrevocable instantaneous divorce at one go (unilateral triple-talaq). 

The plea in question has been filed by Shayara Bano. 

"Muslim women have their hands tied while the guillotine of divorce dangles, perpetually ready to drop at the whims of their husbands who enjoy undisputed power. Such discrimination and inequality hoarsely expressed in the form of unilateral triple-talaq is abominable when seen in light of the progressive times of the 21st century," Bano's plea said, adding, "Further, once a woman has been divorced, her husband is not permitted take her back as his wife even if he had pronounced talaq under influence of any intoxicant, unless the woman undergoes nikah halala which involves her marriage with another man who subsequently divorces her so that her previous husband can re-marry her." 

Law for dealing with honour killing:

The panel, according to the report, has also asked for a separate and "standalone" law for dealing with the issue of honour killings. 

The report recommends that police and legal protection should be made mandatory for couples who might be at risk and punishment must be ensured for those involved in khap decisions that lead to such killings. 

Additionally, it also recommended that the need to put up a putting up 30-day public notice under the Special Marriages Act should be scrapped. According to the panel, such a public notice could put couples at risk if they are marrying without the consent of the families involved. 

The recommendation assumes importance in light of the recent spate of honour killings in the country. 

Last month, a young couple, whose inter-caste marriage was opposed by their families, was brutally attacked by a gang with sickles in full public view in Tamil Nadu's Tirupur district, resulting in the death of the husband.

Little over a week later, in yet another suspected honour killing in Tamil Nadu, a youth was hacked to death in a liquor bar, apparently for marrying a girl against the wishes of her family a year ago.

Overhauling adultery law:

According to Indian Express, the report also calls for amending the “archaic” Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code on adultery.

The Section says that if a man has "sexual intercourse with a person who is and whom he knows or has reason to believe to be the wife of another man", without the "consent or connivance" of the husband, and if the intercourse is consensual, then the man can be charged with the offence of adultery.