SC directs Collectors and SPs to prevent child marriages

NEW DELHI, MARCH 22 (PTI) Keeping in view solemnisation of thousands of child marriages every year during festivals of "Akshay tritiya", "Akha Teej", "Ram Navami", "Basant Panchami" and "Karma Jayanti", the Supreme Court has asked Collectors and Suprintendents of Police to prevent mass child marriages.

The direction was given by a Bench comprising Justice S B Sinha and Justice S H Kapadia during a recent hearing on the PIL filed by Forum, Fact Finding Documentation and Advocacy seeking stringent action against officials failing to prevent child marriages.

Solicitor General G E Vahanvati informed the Bench that the Prevention of Child Marriages Bill, 2004 has been introduced in Parliament to replace the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 and objections and suggestions from general public have been invited.

Noting this, the Bench said "we hope and trust that the Collectors and SPs of all Districts in the States shall make endeavour to prevent child marraiges as far as possible and preferably in cases where mass marriage takes place".

The petitioner NGO assailed the 1929 Act saying "it was a queer piece of legislation rendering all child marriages illegal but not void." It criticised the 2004 Bill saying instead of plugging the loopholes in the law, Section 3 of the Bill provided that a child marriage would be rendered void only if the children file legal proceedings for this purpose.