NDA, erstwhile UPA share same opinion on ‘Child Marriage’ issue

There has been a conflict of interest between the Section 375’s exception 2 and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.     

When such a conflict of interest has been pointed out by a renowned NGO, the Supreme Court has erased the exemption.

Unexpectedly, the incident has exposed a platform where both the erstwhile UPA and the ruling NDA happily stand together. The NDA has not only backed the erstwhile UPA’s policy on the child marriage but also used the UPA’s affidavit stating that the act of criminalising the child marriage with the POCSO act is not a right way to find a solution to the issue.

The big question to the erstwhile UPA and the ruling regime is that ‘why the sexual intercourse with a minor wife is not rape when the same cruel act with a minor girl who is aged below eighteen with or without her consent is rape under the POCSO act’.

The same question has been asked by several NGOs including the Kailash Satyarthi’s Bachpan Bachao Andolan in numerous different democratic platforms such as the Supreme Court.

The statistics indicate that there are nearly 23 million child brides in the country –Rajasthan is the state which has the highest number of child brides as per the latest survey report.

It is said that the mainstream parties’ prime focus is their vote banks so they have no will to make any move to unsettle the irrational traditional practices. 

Vignesh. S. G

Photo Courtesy: Google/ images are subject to copyright