Report No. 205

Section 3(3) should be amended to read as under:-

"(3) The petition under Section 3(1)(ii) may be filed at any time till the person contracting a child marriage attains 20 years of age."

(iii) That the exception to the rape Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code be deleted. This would ensure that the age of consent for sexual intercourse for all girls, whether married or not, is 16. The 172nd Report of the Law Commission had recommended increasing the age of consent for all girls to 16.

(iv) Registration of marriages within a stipulated period, of all the communities, viz. Hindu, Muslim, Christians, etc. should be made mandatory by the Government.

(v) The age of marriage for both boys and girls should be 18 years as there is no scientific reason why this should be different. Consequently the present Section 2(a) of the PCMA should be deleted and replaced by the following Section 2(a):-

"(a) 'child' means a person who has not completed 18 years of age."

(vi) Other acts like the Hindu Marriage Act should also be amended to ensure that the provisions in the said acts are the same as and do not contradict the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.