Child marriage is a scourge that must be eliminated, but the current crackdown by the Assam government leaves much to be desired. Mired as the issue is in legal complexities and personal laws, it has to be tackled with sensitivity and foresight and cannot be seen as vilification of a particular community. The Assam government, invoking the provisions of the POCSO Act for those married before the age of 16, the Child Marriage Act for those married between 16 and 18 and applying the law retrospectively, has arrested hundreds of people, leaving several women and their children vulnerable. The government must keep the bigger picture in mind before taking steps to eliminate this bane of society. Girls have to be provided access to education and taught how to stand on their own feet before a meaningless crackdown on their husbands or parents is initiated. Chief Minister Hemanta Biswa Sarma’s comment that “one generation has to suffer” if this social evil is to be eradicated is particularly callous.
There have been reports of suicides among young, helpless girls bereft of their breadwinners and also of pregnant teenagers refusing to go to hospital for fear of their husbands, parents and in-laws facing arrest. This can lead to a dangerous health emergency. It is pertinent to mention that the prime minister, in his reply in Parliament to the President’s address to the joint sitting of both Houses, spoke of his government’s major strides in checking maternal and child mortality by focusing on institutional delivery and ensuring that almost all babies are delivered in health facilities. As it is Assam has the dubious distinction of having the highest maternal mortality rate at 195 per one lakh live births. The Assam government’s ill-informed move will only put paid to any efforts made to reduce this. Over the years child marriage statistics nationwide have seen a sharp dip but this has been achieved not through punitive action but by the spread of literacy and social awareness. The Prime Minister’s ‘beti bachao beti padhao’ slogan must be paid heed to in Assam too. Hemanta Biswa Sarma was education minister before he became CM. Did he take proactive steps to curb child marriage by spreading education among poor, underprivileged girls? Is his current crackdown nothing more than an attempt to further his anti-Muslim agenda? It is no coincidence that the bulk of those arrested are from the minority community. Social change has to happen gradually. Vicious crackdowns will not help in eliminating societal evils.
Showing the way
When Zahad gave birth to a baby with his partner Ziya Paval in a Kerala hospital recently, he overturned all the traditional concepts associated with pregnancy and parenting. By becoming the first Indian transgender couple to give birth to a biological child, they have opened the door for other such couples seeking the joys of parenthood. While Zahad was born female, Ziya was assigned male at birth. They were both desirous of changing their gender and were in the process of transitioning when they decided to have a child and stopped their hormone therapy midway on the advice of a doctor. The complications of a transgender couple adopting a child were too numerous for them to contemplate. Though Zahad gave birth to the baby, whose gender they fittingly refused to reveal leaving it to the child to decide on the issue, he is very clear that he wants to play the role of the father while Ziya has always wanted to be a mother. What has been heartening is the response of many people and the Kerala government to this momentous event. While higher education minister R Bindu said the birth of the child opens doors to a new, more inclusive, gender-aware world, health minister Veena George had made arrangements for the child’s delivery at a government hospital while ensuring that they received the best treatment. For too long the transgender community has had to suffer the barbs of society, even subject to cruel violence and intimidation. Ziya and Zahad too have faced their share of vicious online trolls. The decriminalisation of same sex relationships gave the LGBTQ community much to cheer about but there is still a long way to go for their complete acceptance in society. Adoption laws, for instance, are still mired in archaic rules whereby only heterosexual couples or single parents can adopt. Perhaps the solution lies in legalising same sex marriages, but is India ready for this step?
