The BJP-led NDA government at the centre is mulling to amend the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006, and reduce the minimum age of marriage for men.
The proposed amendments were recently discussed at a meeting headed by the Indian Ministry of Women and Child Development, ThePrint reported.
The Centre also aims at making child marriages void by default.
Presently the legal age for marriage for men in India is 21 and that for women is 18 years.
According to the present legislation, child marriages in India is voidable meaning it can be recognised after the two parties attain the legal age for marriage.
“Section 3 of the PCMA provides for voidability of child marriage at the instance of a contracting party within two years of attaining majority to be amended so as to make child marriages void ab initio (to be treated as invalid from the beginning) with prospective effect”, the proposal states.
The proposed amendments come in light of a 2017 Supreme Court judgement that equated sex with a minor wife with rape.