CHILD MARRIAGES

Southland Times, Issue 21090, 23 May 1930, Page 3

CHILD MARRIAGES

INDIA’S NEW LAW.

DARING SOCIAL LEGISLATION.

Poona, India, April 1 To-day throughout the length and breadth of British India and Burmah there, conies into operation the most daring piece of social legislation known in history, beside which America’s great social experimentj prohibition, pales into comparative insignificance. To-day the now famous Sarda Act is law and no male under the age of 18 years and no female under the age of 14 years is allowed to marry, and this in a country which has recognized child marriages for many centuries and where it has been carried to extremes to which it is almost impossible to give credence. The turning point has been reached ‘and when Mr Gandhi and his followers have gone the way of all flesh the Sarda Act will remain as one of the greatest attempts ever known to revolutionize a country. Whether it will be a memory only or a respected law depends very largely on the success or otherwise of the Home Rule ■‘movement. A Congress-ruled India would discard the Sarda Act to-morrow. A continuation of the present rule spells long life for it, but it is bound to be many years before it will be fully efficient. The new law will affect the daily family life of at least 200 millions of people out of India’s 319 millions. Probably not two millions of the 200 have ever heard of the Sarda Act while almost all will be in opposition to itj The percentage which will give it support will be the same percentage which forced it through the Legislative Assembly in the face of strong opposition. India has 700,000 villages, in the majority of which the law is represented by a village patel' or constable. Will the Government be strong enough to see that this man carries through his duty against his natural sympathies? Will the Government be strong enough to fight down opposition which organized a mighty Mussulman wedding in the capital city itself this very morning, as a result of which two mere babies were wedded in one of Delhi’s great moegues before a congregation of 12,000 Mahommedans? It was a dramatic protest at which it was pointed out that the Sarda Act, brought into force to-day, was a law passed by the Indian Legislature consisting of mere human beings and assented to by the Viceroy. But there was another law enacted by God himself and promulgated to them more than 1300 years ago by their prophet. This law they would follow.

This is not the only protest entered. Since the law was passed the Government of India has received 543 telegrams and 494 resolutions and memorials signed by 38,886 people desiring its repeal or the repeal or the exemption of certain communities. The Act was, of course, intended in the first place to apply to Hindus only, but the Assembly decided to make it apply to all classes. Provincial Governments have also been asked to move in the matter. The opposition appears to be strong, but it must be remembered by those considering the position that the Act is the work, not of an outside British Administration, but of the enlightened people of India themselves, through their representatives in the Assembly, with, of course, the whole-hearted support of the British community.

. Fifty years or much less ago such an Act would have been unthinkable. Suggestion of it would have roused a storm of protest from all quarters as being unwarranted interference with the customs of the people. Now that the move has come from the people themselves there is hope that that education and enlightenment which brought it into being will spread so that the Act may live and function.