GS Paper - II

The Himachal Pradesh Assembly passed a Bill to raise the minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years. The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Himachal Pradesh Amendment) Bill, 2024, was passed by voice vote.

The Bill amended the Prohibition of Child Marriage (PCM) Act, which was passed by Parliament in 2006.

Why did the Himachal Pradesh Assembly pass the Bill?

• Health, Social Justice, and Empowerment Minister Dhani Ram Shandil said it was necessary to raise the minimum age of marriage for women to provide opportunities to them.
• Some girls still marry at a young age, which hinders their education and ability to progress in life… Additionally, many women are unable to achieve success in their careers due to early marriage.
• Early marriage and motherhood often severely impact the health of women.

What amendments has the Bill introduced to the PCM Act?

• As it stands, Section 2(a) of the PCM Act defines a “child” as someone “who, if male, has not completed twenty-one years of age, and if a female, has not completed eighteen years of age”.
• The Himachal Bill eliminates this distinction on the basis of age between “males” and “females”. It defines a “child” as “a male or female who has not completed twenty-one years of age”.
• The Bill also amends Section 2(b) of the PCM Act, which defines “child marriage” as “a marriage to which either of the contracting parties is a child”.
• The Bill has added a clause giving it overriding effect over “anything contrary or inconsistent therewith contained in any other law…including any custom or usage or practice governing the parties”.
• This means that the new marriage age for women will apply to everyone in Himachal Pradesh regardless of what any other law may state, or even if the religious or cultural practices of the individuals getting married allow legal minors to get married.
• The Bill introduces Section 18A to the PCM Act, which gives the same overriding effect to the entire central law and its provisions.
• The Bill increases the time-period for filing a petition to annul a marriage. Under Section 3 of the PCM Act, the “contracting party who was a child at the time of the marriage” can file a petition to annul the marriage within two years of attaining majority (before they turn 20 for women, and 23 for men).
• The Bill increases this period to five years, allowing both women and men to file petitions to annul the marriage before they turn 23 years old (the minimum age for marriage at 21 years is higher than the age of majority at 18 years).

How will the Bill’s amendments to the PCM Act come into force?

• The Concurrent List — or List III under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India — contains a list of subjects that both the central and state governments can pass laws on.
• Entry 5 of the Concurrent List comprises a number of subjects including “marriage and divorce; infants and minors;…all matters in respect of which parties in judicial proceedings were immediately before the commencement of this Constitution subject to their personal law”. This allows both the Centre and states to enact laws to address child marriage.
• Typically, under Article 200 of the Constitution, a Bill passed by a state Assembly will be handed over to the Governor of that state for her assent.
• The Governor can then declare that she assents to the Bill (making it a law), return the Bill for reconsideration, or “reserve” it for consideration by the President.
• The President can then declare that she assents or withholds assent to the Bill, or direct the Governor to send it back for reconsideration.
• However, the Bill passed by Himachal Pradesh amends the PCM Act by introducing a different marriage age for women, making it inconsistent with the Act passed by Parliament.
• Under Article 254(1) of the Constitution, if the state legislature enacts a law dealing with a subject in the Concurrent List and that law is “repugnant” — inconsistent or contradictory — with a central law, then the repugnant portion of the state law will be “void”.
• The exception to this is provided under Article 254(2). If the Bill in question is repugnant to an earlier or existing law made by Parliament, the Bill must be reserved for the President’s consideration and needs to receive her assent as per Article 201.
• This process was seen in action in the case of Uttarakhand’s Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill, which provided common provisions for subjects such as marriage, divorce, etc. for everyone residing in the state.
• These subjects were previously governed by personal laws (enacted by Parliament) and the customs of residents depending on their religious or cultural identity. The Bill passed by the state Assembly in February became law only after President Murmu gave her assent to it in March.