Jind: Khap panchayats of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh held a Sarvkhap Panchayat (Mahapanchayat) on Thursday to mark their protest against the central government's recent decision of increasing the legal marriage age for girls from 18 to 21 years. They also intend to start a campaign in North India to demand the reversal of the bill.
The khaps also passed a resolution against the bill in the Mahapanchayat and have said that they will submit their draft to the central and state governments regarding their demands. More than 100 khaps from different states participated in the Mahapanchayat held in the Jind province of Haryana.
The Mahapanchayat discussed several aspects of the Centre's new decision on legal age of marriage for girls. The Khaps said that they do not mind the legal age of marriage for women being 21 years, but the social age of marriage should be 18 years; meaning the families should get the rights to marry their daughters off at the age of 18.
Khaps argue that girls from well-to-do-families won't have any problem in marriages. But, most of the families in rural areas prefer to get their daughters married by the age of 18 due to weak financial circumstances. The new law, which would not allow them to do so, will put a burden on the families, who already struggle immensely for earning the bread and butter for their family members, according to Somveer Sangwan, chief of Sangwan Khap.
What does the resolution passed in Sarvkhap Mahapanchayat say?
As informed by Devavrat Dhandha, the chief of Dhandha Khap, some of the demands of this soon to be submitted resolution are:
Even if the legal age of marriage for girls is 21 years, their family should have the rights to marry her off after she turns 18.
Marriage in the same gotra and same village should be invalid, regardless of where the bride and the groom live. This should be a law only for the people who believe in the Gotra system, who majorly belong to the khaps of Delhi, Western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana.
Marriage will also be invalid in the nearby village. However, this rule will not be applicable to people living in towns as they come and settle from many places, and therefore do not fall under the category of nearby villages.
The khap member informed that a draft will be made on the resolutions and another meeting is scheduled to be held on January 2. The resolution will be handed over to the central and state governments, after which cooperation from them is expected in amending the bill according to the Khaps' demands.
Why the government raised the age of marriage for girls from 18 to 21
The decision to increase the legal age of marriage was made by the central government on the recommendations of Jaya Jaitley Committee constituted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in June 2020. The committee was asked to find out the relationship between women's nutrition, prevalence of anemia, infant mortality rate (IMR), maternal mortality rate and age of marriage during its formation. The committee headed by former Samata Party president Jaya Jaitley with Dr VK Paul, member of NITI Aayog and secretaries of several ministries, had drafted a report on raising the age of marriage and its impacts on women's and child health. The committee was also to recommend a time frame within which it would be appropriate for a woman to get married.
Based on the feedback received from young adults from 16 universities, the committee recommended raising the age of marriage for women to 21 years. On the basis of this recommendation, the Central Government has brought the Child Marriage Amendment Bill 2021, which is being widely criticized by the opposition and other communities especially from the rural India.
Also read: Haryana Khap Panchayats oppose bill on raising girls' marriage age to 21
