Increasing marriage age for women will increase illegitimate relationships says women wing of Muslim

New Delhi, Oct 23: The women's wing of the Muslim League has written to the Prime Minister urging him not to hike the legal marriageable age of women from 18 to 21 years.

Secretary of the league, P K Noorbana Rasheed in the letter written to PM Modi says delaying the age of marriage will give way to live-in relationships and illegitimate relations. It would not be appropriate to bring down the age from 21 to 18 at a time when many developing countries have brought down the legal age for marriage.

Instead of implementing the Prohibition of Child Marriages Act 2006 in letter and spirit, attempts to raise the marriageable age was unfair. "There was a report recently, that in rural areas, 30% of women are getting married before they attain the age of 18 years.

What is the point of taking such a decision when existing laws are not implemented effectively," she also said.

There is a need for proper discussion before arriving at a decision, she said. The Centre had decided to constitute a 10 member team to consider increasing the age of women for marriage. The committee recommended increasing the marriage age of women from 18 to 21 years.