Asaduddin Owaisi Criticises Centre's Decision To Raise Minimum Age Of Marriage For Women

AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi criticized the Narendra Modi government's decision to raise the minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21. He took to his Twitter and tweeted, "Modi govt has decided to increase the age of marriage for women to 21. This is typical paternalism that we have come to expect from the govt. 18 year old men & women can sign contracts, start businesses, choose Prime Ministers & elect MPs & MLAs but not marry?"

In a series of tweets, he wrote that "Men & women are treated as adults at 18 for most critical things. Why is marriage any different? The legal age is not really a criteria; the essential goal must be to ensure education, economic progress & human development."

He also wrote, "If Modi was sincere, he would have focused on increasing economic opportunities for women. Yet India is the only country where women’s participation in the workforce is dwindling. It fell to 16% in 2020 from 26% in 2005."

It is all known knowledge that the Union Cabinet had approved the proposal to increase the minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years. Currently, the minimum age of marriage for men is 21 and for women is 18. 

In another tweet, Owaisi mentioned that "Child marriages are rampant despite a law. Every fourth woman in India was married before turning 18 but only 785 criminal cases of child marriage were recorded. If child marriages have reduced from before, it’s due to education and economic progress, not criminal law. There are 12 million kids who were married before they even turned ten. 84% of these are from Hindu families and only 11% are Muslim."

Owais also said that "In many US states, marriage age is as low as 14. In UK and Canada, it’s 16. In New Zealand, 16-19-year-olds can marry with parental consent. These nations improved the human development of young people so that they can take informed decisions rather than fixing arbitrary age restrictions."

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