Prohibition of Child Marriage Act

The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 (PCMA) is the primary legislation preventing child marriage in India. It replaced the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929, which had failed to reduce the incidence of child marriage due to weak penalties, procedural gaps, and the absence of any provision making child marriages legally ineffective. The PCMA strengthened the anti-child marriage framework in several ways — particularly by making child marriages voidable (at the option of the contracting child), enhancing penalties, and introducing the Child Marriage Prohibition Officer (CMPO).

Under the PCMA: (1) Section 2(b) defines 'child' as a person who, if a male, has not completed 21 years of age, and if a female, has not completed 18 years of age; (2) Section 3 declares that every child marriage shall be voidable at the option of the contracting party who was a child at the time of marriage — the marriage is not void automatically but can be avoided by the child upon application to the court before the child turns 20; (3) Section 9 punishes a male adult contracting a child marriage with hard imprisonment up to 2 years or fine up to Rs. 1 lakh; (4) Section 10 punishes persons who perform, conduct, direct, or abet a child marriage similarly.

The PCMA interacts with the IPC/BNS in several important ways. Section 375 IPC (rape) had an Exception 2 that excluded marital intercourse from the definition of rape — but as interpreted before the Independent Thought case, this exception applied even to intercourse with a child wife between 15 and 18 years. The Supreme Court in Independent Thought struck down this exception, holding that sexual intercourse by a husband with his wife who is between 15 and 18 years of age is rape under Section 375. This effectively criminalised marital rape of child wives — an important step, though adult marital rape remains uncriminalised.

Despite the PCMA, the incidence of child marriage in India remains high — particularly in states like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand. Multiple factors contribute to the persistence of child marriage: poverty, gender inequality, lack of awareness, and the difficulty of distinguishing between marriages conducted by custom (which courts sometimes recognise in the absence of PCMA proceedings) and civil marriages governed by the HMA or SMA. Child marriages that are not voided within the time period continue as valid marriages — the PCMA's voidability mechanism requires the child to take active steps to annul the marriage, which many children lack the knowledge, support, or legal assistance to do.

For advocates working on child marriage matters, the key points are: (1) a child marriage is voidable, not void — it must be actively challenged; (2) the petition must be filed before the child turns 20; (3) the court must simultaneously provide for maintenance and child custody; (4) the CMPO in each district has the power to apply for injunctions to prevent solemnisation of child marriages; and (5) under the PCMA, the consent of the child party is not a defence — the marriage remains voidable even if the child 'consented' — and consent at below 18 (for girls) is legally ineffective.