The point of the second objection is Freedom of Choice. CPM politician Sitaram Yechury has said that when a woman becomes 18 years old, she gets the right to vote. She is treated as an adult, but when it comes to marriage, she will be treated as a juvenile. How can it be?
Similarly, the AIMIM Cheif Owaisi said that the Modi Government behaves like an uncle from your neighbourhood. If an 18-year-old woman can choose her MP and MLA, she can choose the Prime Minister of the country, can start her business, can sign contracts, but can’t marry of her own will.
In the opinion of the people raising this point of objection, the legal age of marriage for both men and women should be 18 years. The same thing was suggested in a 2018 Law Commission Report. That men and women should be allowed to get married at the age of 18. In fact, if we look at the trend worldwide, we can see a similar thing in the other countries.
According to the United Nations, 180 countries have the age of marriage for men at 18 years. And in 158 countries, women are allowed to get married at 18 years of age. Here comes a big question. Why wasn’t the marriage age of men reduced to 18 years? So that it could be 18 for both? Instead, they decided on the complete opposite. The age was raised to 21 years for women. It’s 21 years for both now. To know the answer to this question, we need to understand the problem of child marriage in the country.
