Bill to prevent children

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New Delhi, Dec 14 (UNI) A Bill aiming to provide stringent penalties for performing children was today moved by Union Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury in the Rajya Sabha.

Stating that the ''two words--child and marriage-- were contradictory'', the Minister said the Bill aimed to stop the pernicious practice that was to be found even among the educated and affluent households in several states.

Ms Chowdhury said 65 per cent of young girls were married off below the age of 18 years and became mothers even though they were physically unprepared to give birth. She regretted that their families treated these girls like a transferable commodity.

Without mincing words, the Minister described the practice as the ''biggest obscenity'' cast on society and blamed illiteracy, societal attitudes and social acceptance as the reasons for its continuance despite several laws prohibiting.

The Bill, which seeks to replace the Sharda Marriage Act of 1929 by making it a crime to solemnise a marriage of a child by giving a strong deterrence.

children are practiced in the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

In view of the importance of the Bill, the Elders decided to dispense with the lunch hour to sit through the discussion.

Reminding the members that the Bill was introduced in the House in the winter session of 2004, the Minister said the Parliamentary Standing Committee addressed it two years ago.

Following its recommendations, the Group of Ministers looked into the matter and the Bill sent for Cabinet approval.

BJP member Kalraj Mishra, initiating the discussion on the Bill, however, expressed reservations over the stringent punishment of one year's imprisonment and Rs 1 lakh on the child's parents saying that children often took place among the poor, and Dalit sections of society.