We Want Couple's Age On Wedding Card: Child activists

The Women and Child Welfare department of UP issued orders to mandatorily mention the age of the bride and groom on the wedding card in order to curb child marriages, child activists from Telangana State want a similar rule to be implemented here.

An official mention of the age of the bride and groom will be very useful because many parents falsify the age to get around the ban on underage marriages. It will also be easier to give a police complaint and stop the marriage, say child rights activists. 

According to the new rule implemented in UP, parents will have to submit age proof of bride and bridegroom to the owners of the printing press for printing of marriage invitation cards. Without age proof, the owners of the printing press will not allow printing of invitation cards.

The invitation cards will carry the age and date of birth of both the bride and groom to certify that the marrying couples are adults and legally entitled to tie the nuptial knot. The printing press owners will keep a record of documents furnished as age proof, according to the instructions issued by the Women and Child Welfare department in UP.

Karnataka issued a circular last year through its anti-child marriage committee which stated that hospitals must conduct x-ray examination of the couple-to-be and certify their age. Until now, the birth certificate or other document with proof of age was enough for government medical officers to issue age-determination certificates.

Ediga Venkatesh, a child rights activist from MVF Foundation told this newspaper, “There are many challenges when it comes to curb child marriages so this mandatory mention of age of bride and groom will be very beneficial for stopping a child marriage. Whenever we get information about a child marriage the biggest challenge is to collect proof of age. By mentioning the age on the invite the parents are themselves declaring the age.”

He adds that even if parents declare the age to be legal, inquiries can still be made. Even priests should perform the marriage only after confirming the age of the couple, Mr Venkatesh said.

D Prakash, secretary of the Telangana Child Rights Protection Forum says “We have demanded many times that priests, qazis, wedding organisers, the printing press should help to prevent child marriages in the state. The orders issued by the UP government are very effective in preventing child marriages. The Telangana government should also issue such orders.”

However, the Telangana women development and child welfare department and senior police officials believe that it's better to register the marriage instead of mentioning the age in the wedding card.

Mrs Laxmi Devi, Director of Women Development and Child Welfare said, ''Though we don't have a rule of mentioning the age in the wedding card in Telangana state but we have made marriage registration mandatory irrespective of the age,caste and creed. We have also contacted the E-seva so that now marriage registrations can be done through E-seva. To curb child marriages we have taken this step, we are booking FIRs against the parents if they are not registering the marriages and also if they are caught during the marriage registrations for performing the marriage of minors. If the parents are caught during marriage registrations we are sending them to child homes and sending them their spouses or parents only once they turn majors''.

Mr Mahesh Bhagwat, Rachakonda Police Commissioner who have rescued more than 40 child marriages in last eight months, told the newspaper, “If the new rules in UP bring some changes in preventing child marriages then we can also implement the same but currently we have stringent laws against the culprits behind the child marriages as per The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006. Instead of mentioning the age in the wedding card its better to register the marriage because the child marriage will be exposed easily.”