Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006

Every year around Akshaya Tritiya, district officials in parts of India brace for a rush of weddings in which the bride or groom has not yet come of age. The Act that gives them power to act that day is the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act. Think about what a good law here has to do: stop the wedding before it happens, protect the child if it has already happened, and still look after any children born. This topic shows how one short statute tries to do all three.

In two minutes

The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 treats a child marriage as voidable at the option of the child spouse, protects that spouse and any children through maintenance, residence, custody and legitimacy, and punishes the adults who arrange or solemnise it.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Law Relating to Women and Children on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.