Bihar CM Manjhi makes headline again, says girls should be married after age of 25

Patna, Oct 14: Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi is not new to controversies. Latest in the lists is his statement where he has said that marriage age for both boy and girl should be raised to 25 . And the reason he has put up that it will be helpful in solving bad health and malnutrition among women.

At present the legal age for marriage in India is 21 years for men and 18 years for women.

Manjhi, who took rein from former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in May this year said, "I believe marriage age for both boy and girl should be raised to 25 in accordance with the age-old tradition of Ashrama system". "It will solve the problems of bad health and malnutrition among women and infants prevalent in society today," he also added. He told this while talking to reporters on the sidelines of his Janata Darbar programme, started by his predecessor Nitish Kumar.

The Ashrama system divides life into four stages on the basis of age - the first stage is "Brahmacharya" (celibacy) till the age of 24. Second one is "Grihastha" from 24-48, then "Vanaprastha" (48-72) and finally "Sannyasa" (72 till death).

"Why has the height of an average person come down to 5 feet from the earlier 7 feet?" he asked and attributed even that to early marriage.

The 70-year-old Chief Minister said he married after 25 and attributed his good health to that.

Manjhi- Controversial child

Manjhi who has skirted a series of controversies recently. Reportedly some of his statements have not augured well among party leaders.

After Patna stampede, he had visited Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) and whimpered about the worst condition of Bihar's one of the premier Hospital. Report say that earlier he had defended the same officials and then finally out of blue transferred them.

Earlier he had said he had to pay a bribe of Rs 5,000 to get his work done when Nitish kumar was at helm of affair. The lists doesn't end here. Manjhi also hit the headline after he alleged that a temple in Madhubani was "washed" after his visit.
OneIndia

(with inputs from PTI)