India Has 12 Million Married Children Under Age Ten
Nearly 12 million Indian children were married before the age of 10 years, 84% of them Hindu and 11% Muslim, reveals IndiaSpend analysis of recently released census data.
To put it in context, this number is equivalent to Jammu & Kashmir’s population.
As many as 7.84 million (65%) married children were female, reinforcing the fact that girls are significantly more disadvantaged; eight in ten illiterate children who were married were also girls.
The data further reveal that 72% of all Hindu girls married before ten were in rural areas, as compared to 58.5% Muslim girls, with higher levels of education correlating with later marriage.
Jain women marry latest (at a median age of 20.8 years), followed by Christian women (20.6 years) and Sikh women (19.9 years). Hindu and Muslim women have the lowest median age at first marriage (16.7 years), IndiaSpend reported earlier based on a seven-state report from Nirantar, a Delhi-based advocacy group.
Women from urban areas, on average, marry more than two years later than their rural counterparts, IndiaSpend reported earlier.
The report also noted that the level of teenage pregnancy and motherhood is nine times higher among women with no education than among women with 12 or more years of education.
80% of illiterate children married before ten years of age are girls
As many as 5.4 million (44%) married children under ten were illiterate, 80% of them female, indicating how lower levels of education correlate with early marriage.
As many as 1,403 females have never attended any educational institution for every 1,000 males who have not, IndiaSpend reported earlier.
In developing countries, girls with less access to quality education are more likely to marry early, argued Quentin Wodon, an advisor with the World Bank’s education department.
Better and safer job opportunities for girls may also reduce child marriage, as might better access to basic infrastructure (water, electricity), which frees up time spent on domestic chores for schooling, wrote Wodon.
30% girls, 42% boys married before legal ages
The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act states that a girl in India cannot marry before age 18, a boy before 21.
A Muslim girl can marry when she attains puberty or completes 15 years of age, according to Muslim Personal Law, the Gujarat High Court and Delhi High Court noted in different judgments.
As many as 102 million girls (30% of female population) were married before 18 in 2011; the number was 119 million in 2001 (44% of female population), a decrease of 14 percentage points over the decade.
Among boys, 125 million were married before 21 years of age (42% of male population) in 2011; the number was 120 million in 2001 (49% of male population), a decrease of 7 percentage points over the decade.
http://thewire.in/2016/06/01/of-12-mill ... dus-39885/
Of 12 Million Married Children Under 10, 84% Are Hindus
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ghulam muhammed
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Re: Of 12 Million Married Children Under 10, 84% Are Hindus
Govt Stands By 1949 Law Allowing Men Sex With 15-Yr-Old Wives
The age of consent to sexual intercourse in India is 18, which means sex with anyone below that age is rape–the exception is if the woman is above 15 and married.
On August 29, 2016, the union home ministry told the Delhi High Court that the law would stand because these were India’s “social realities”, but the age of 15, as this 2014 paper pointed out, was written into law 67 years ago, imperilling millions of girls forced into matrimony.
The age of consent for married girls was 10 before it was revised to 12 in 1892, 13 in 1925 and 15 in 1949, and it has stayed unchanged since.
“Although the age of consent is 18 years and child marriage is discouraged, marriage below permissible age is avoidable but not void on account of social realities,” said a home ministry affidavit quoted in the Indian Express.
“It is submitted that the social, economic and educational development of the country is still uneven and child marriages are taking place. It has been decided to retain the age of 15 years under the exception 2 of Section 375 so as to give protection to husband and wife against criminalising the sexual activity between them,” said the affidavit, filed in response to a public interest litigation against marital rape, which is not criminalised in India.
The definition of rape is clear in Section 375 of the 156-year-old Indian Penal Code (IPC), which says sex with a girl below 18–even if she consents–is rape. But Section 375, under “exception 2“, provides immunity to a man who has sex with a girl above 15 if they are married. In general, Section 375 protects men from marital rape.
The government amended the law in 2013 to raise the age of consent to 18 from 16, but exception 2 retained the age of consent–last set in 1949, as we said–for a married girl at 15. The Supreme Court is now hearing a case that argues exception 2 must be struck down.
But millions of girls below 16 are also married, and although the law says sex with them is rape, there are few complaints.
More than 7.8 million girls below age 10 are married, among nearly 12 million children forced into matrimony–84% of them Hindu and 11% Muslim–IndiaSpend reported in June 2016, quoting recent census data.
There are as many married children in India as there are people in Jammu & Kashmir.
As many of 7.84 million (65%) married children were female, reinforcing the fact that girls are significantly more disadvantaged; eight in 10 illiterate children who were married were also girls.
http://www.indiaspend.com/making-sense- ... ives-42145
Please also read :-
India’s 13 Million Child Brides, Their 6 Million Children
Nearly 17 million Indian children between the ages of 10 and 19—6% of the age group—are married, many of them to older men, newly-released census figures reveal.
http://www.indiaspend.com/cover-story/i ... dren-71955
The age of consent to sexual intercourse in India is 18, which means sex with anyone below that age is rape–the exception is if the woman is above 15 and married.
On August 29, 2016, the union home ministry told the Delhi High Court that the law would stand because these were India’s “social realities”, but the age of 15, as this 2014 paper pointed out, was written into law 67 years ago, imperilling millions of girls forced into matrimony.
The age of consent for married girls was 10 before it was revised to 12 in 1892, 13 in 1925 and 15 in 1949, and it has stayed unchanged since.
“Although the age of consent is 18 years and child marriage is discouraged, marriage below permissible age is avoidable but not void on account of social realities,” said a home ministry affidavit quoted in the Indian Express.
“It is submitted that the social, economic and educational development of the country is still uneven and child marriages are taking place. It has been decided to retain the age of 15 years under the exception 2 of Section 375 so as to give protection to husband and wife against criminalising the sexual activity between them,” said the affidavit, filed in response to a public interest litigation against marital rape, which is not criminalised in India.
The definition of rape is clear in Section 375 of the 156-year-old Indian Penal Code (IPC), which says sex with a girl below 18–even if she consents–is rape. But Section 375, under “exception 2“, provides immunity to a man who has sex with a girl above 15 if they are married. In general, Section 375 protects men from marital rape.
The government amended the law in 2013 to raise the age of consent to 18 from 16, but exception 2 retained the age of consent–last set in 1949, as we said–for a married girl at 15. The Supreme Court is now hearing a case that argues exception 2 must be struck down.
But millions of girls below 16 are also married, and although the law says sex with them is rape, there are few complaints.
More than 7.8 million girls below age 10 are married, among nearly 12 million children forced into matrimony–84% of them Hindu and 11% Muslim–IndiaSpend reported in June 2016, quoting recent census data.
There are as many married children in India as there are people in Jammu & Kashmir.
As many of 7.84 million (65%) married children were female, reinforcing the fact that girls are significantly more disadvantaged; eight in 10 illiterate children who were married were also girls.
http://www.indiaspend.com/making-sense- ... ives-42145
Please also read :-
India’s 13 Million Child Brides, Their 6 Million Children
Nearly 17 million Indian children between the ages of 10 and 19—6% of the age group—are married, many of them to older men, newly-released census figures reveal.
http://www.indiaspend.com/cover-story/i ... dren-71955