In a shocking development in Congress ruled Rajasthan, a bill has been passed to amend an act on mandatory registration of marriages, including child marriages that led to the opposition staging a walkout from the assembly.
What is even more absurd is that the bill was passed by voice vote.
The Rajasthan assembly passed the Rajasthan Compulsory Registration of Marriages (Amendment) Bill, 2021, which amends the Rajasthan Compulsory Registration of Marriages Act, 2009, on Friday (September 17) and under now information on child marriage must be furnished by their parents or guardians within 30 days of the wedding.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators walked out of the House and questioned the need for such a law and and demanded the withdrawal of the bill. But the Congress government said that it is mearly following a Supreme Court order.
“It will be a black day for the assembly if this bill is passed. Does the assembly permit us to unanimously allow child marriages? By a show of hands, we will be permitting child marriages. The bill will write a black chapter in the history of the assembly,” BJP MLA Ashok Lahoti said, according to news agency ANI.
Rajasthan parliamentary affairs minister Shanti Dhariwal, however, said that the amendment does not say that child marriages will be valid. “You say that child marriages will be validated. Nowhere does this amendment say that such marriages will be valid. A marriage certificate is a legal document, in the absence of which a widow won’t receive the benefit of any govt scheme,” Dhariwal was quoted as saying by ANI.
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