In 2017 there have been important legal developments relating to the law on child marriage. On 26.04.2017, the Karnataka government passed an amendment to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 (“PCMA”) declaring child marriages to be void ab initio. On 11.10.2017, the Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgement in Independent Thought v. Union of India on the issue of marital rape in cases of child marriages and held that the Exception 2 Section 375 in the Indian Penal Code, 1860 that exempts husbands from prosecution under the rape law cannot hold in cases where the wife is less than 18 years, thus protecting the rights of young married girls.

CLPR and the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) have drafted a Legal and Policy Brief on Child Marriage, “Ending Impunity for Child Marriage in India: A Review of Normative and Implementation Gaps” outlining the main challenges for implementation of the law nationally and reviewed its working in Karnataka. This brief aims to inform activists, policy makers, lawyers and the judiciary of the key challenges and makes recommendations relating to legal reform, better implementation of the PCMA ensuring accountability and to promote access to justice for girls in child marriages.

On 10th Feb 2018 CRR and CLPR will be releasing this brief at the Karnataka Judicial Academy. Besides the release, a panel discussion on “Implementation of Laws relating to Child Marriage” will also be held. Justice Ashok B. Hinchigeri (Rtd.), Prof. Jaya Sagade, Visiting Faculty, ILS Law College, Pune and Jayna Kothari, Ececutive Director of CLPR will be on the panel.