Karnataka child marriage Bill finally gets President’s nod

President Pranab Mukherjee has given his assent to the long-pending Prohibition of Child Marriage (Karnataka amendment) Bill, 2016, giving greater powers to the police and increasing the penalty for child marriage. The Bill was drafted based on the recommendations of a core committee headed by Shivaraj V. Patil, former Supreme Court judge. Karnataka is among the States that record a high number of child marriages in the country (about 23% of the total, according to a recent survey). The amended Bill seeks to ensure zero tolerance towards child marriage, granting powers to policemen and enhancing penalties for those attending wedding ceremonies of minors. While the original legislation does not prescribe a minimum punishment for offenders, the amendment proposes rigorous imprisonment of one year. It also enables any police officer to take cognizance of the offence. This was one of the 10 Bills from the State pending with the Centre for the President’s nod. The Bill was amended last year by the State Assembly and sent to the Centre. The Home Ministry, which acts as an administrative ministry for State Bills and legislation, after consulting other Central ministries, forwarded the Bill to the Presidential secretariat, sources in the State secretariat said. The State had been urging the Centre to pass the Bill at the earliest, in order to help it to eradicate the menace of child marriage in the next few years. A large number of child marriage cases are reported from north Karnataka, including Dharwad, Belagavi, Bagalkot, Koppal, Raichur and Vijayapura districts.