Shivraj Singh Chouhan bats for raising minimum marriageable age for women to 21 years

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday said that the minimum age of marriage for women should be raised from the current 18 years to 21 years. “I am of the view that minimum age for marriage for girls should be 21 years and there should be a healthy debate on the matter,” Chouhan was quoted as saying by News18. He made these remarks during an event in Bhopal on 11 January while inaugurating a fortnight-long awareness programme for crimes against women called ‘Samman’ As per The Indian Express, Chouhan’s statement came months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing the nation on the 74th Independence Day, had stated that the Central government has constituted a committee formed by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development to look into the minimum marriageable age for women. The chief minister also said that parents of children abducted in Madhya Pradesh will soon be able to track the progress of the case including the status of the investigation by police. He said that due to the efforts of the police, various crimes against women have come down by 15 to 50 percent in Madhya Pradesh in the last eight months. He said the state government has decided that parents of an abducted child will get an “Adhikar Patra” or authority letter, containing the information about the action taken by the police towards tracing the child. “The Adhikar Patra will have information about the course of the action (in a case of abduction) by the police and the timeframe. As per this arrangement, the family of the kidnapped child will get to discuss the case with the police station in-charge concerned every 15 days. The sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP) concerned will review the case diary every 30 days,” the chief minister said. It will be ensured that the action is taken as per the approved checklist, Chouhan said. He said superintendents of police (SPs) and other senior officials will review the cases of abducted girls. “Cases of abducted girls will be studied to check such crimes in Madhya Pradesh. The state government is committed to reuniting the abducted or missing children to their families,” the chief minister said. With inputs from PTI