Women`s Commission seeks uniformity in marriageable age

At a workshop in Kerala,  there was a proposal that the marriageable age should be increased to 21 for girls and 24 years for boys, NCW Chairperson Girija Vyas said here today.

"In any case the age of the boy should not be less than 21 and that of the girl should not be less than 18 at the time of marriage," she said.

Furnishing details of what she said `alarming incidence' of girls marriage under 18 years in different States, she said it was 73 per cent in Madhya Pradesh,68 per cent in Rajasthan, 64 per cent in UP, 71 per cent in Andhra and 67 in Bihar.

She said it was found in two districts in Kerala there was child marriage despite education being `quite good` in the State.

Vyas was inaugurating a one day `regional consultation to discuss issues on marriage contracted by a boy with a girl of less than 18 yeas` organised by NCW in association with the Puducherry Women`s Commission.

Vyas told reporters later that there should not be any kind of harassment of women and no room for discrimination and state governments should take steps in this regard.

She said Puducherry Women`s Commission had started on its own the drive to ensure marriages were registered compulsorily adding no other Commission had done so.

She said it was unfortunate inspite of a legislation having been put in place, incidence of domestic violence had not come down. Lack of knowledge of the Act was one of the reasons, Vyas felt.