It will be appropriate if age of marriage for women remains at 18: KK Shailaja

KOZHIKODE: A bill that seeks to fix 21 years as the uniform age of marriage for women and men was introduced in Lok Sabha today. Meanwhile, former Kerala health minister KK Shailaja MLA came out against the Centre's move to raise the age of marriage to 21.

According to Shailaja, it will be appropriate if the age of marriage for women remains at 18. She also said that the health of women cannot be improved by raising the minimum age of marriage. Meanwhile, Muslim League MPs ET Muhammed Basheer and Abdussamad Samadani slammed the Centre and said that the bill was unconstitutional.

The bill was introduced in Lok Sabha today with Union Minister Smriti Irani terming the move a ''decisive step'' in the country's history.

The introduction of the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was opposed by some members who contended that the move infringed upon several personal laws in violation of fundamental rights and demanded that it be referred to a parliamentary panel for greater scrutiny.

Soon after the introduction of the bill, Irani, the Women and Child Development Minister, urged the Chair to refer it to a standing committee.