Taking a swipe at those opposing the proposed ‘Child Marriage Restraint Act’, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday told Parliament the law is formulated taking the reality into consideration.”This law is formulated keeping in mind the reality. We’ve to consider the country’s socioeconomic condition,” she said while replying to a supplementary question from Jatiya Party MP Fakhrul Imam during the PM’s question-answer session in the House.On November 24, the Cabinet approved the draft of the ‘Child Marriage Restraint Bill, 2016’ keeping girls’ minimum age for marriage at 18 with a provision for the marriage of underage girls in special cases.According to section 2 of the proposed law, a male under 21 years or a female who is yet to complete 18 years will be considered underage for getting married. When one or both are underage, this will be defined as ‘child marriage’.
However, as per section 19 of the proposed law, if any marriage takes place in line with the directives of a court as well as consent of the guardians alongside specific process in the interest of an underage female, such marriage will not be considered as offence.The Prime Minister said those opposing the law had never been in villages for a couple of years constantly. “They’ve no idea about the social system in rural areas,” she said.Talking about the special circumstance when a girl gets pregnant and does not want to have an abortion, she posed a question, “What will happen then? What will be the fate of the newborn and the mother? What will be their status in the society?”She hurried to reply, “We’ve to give them a chance in this situation. Or else, there’ll be a great disaster for the society in future.”Citing examples of the European and American countries where their laws recognise teenage mothers and their children, Hasina said, “However, teenage mother is now a great problem there.”She asked the NGOs who are opposing the law whether they have ever thought about this social menace. “These people (NGO officials) talk about the reality but they have very little responsibility towards the society as they earn money through their organizations.”The Prime Minister said as the head of the government it is her responsibility to think about this (teenage mothers and their children). “As long as I’m in government, I think it’s my responsibility to give these children a place in society and that’s why we’ve kept the special provision. This is very realistic but they (NGO men) have no idea about it,” she said.
source:UNB
