 10k salliiacor-qlge11j)a :-() '?he child mallltiage restraint (amsndment) bill, 1977 l-th belas introduced in ipk sabha 7 ~1 , page 2, again st-line 10, insert-~ marginal citation,-"2 of 1974 it ~~ ____ y- agejt,-~1---ul1'l:-waz f5,ljjtlu--lu64'liujj cr--r~~""""""""'jur :for "offence ii ~ "off'ence ott new delhi; december 12 1977  agranayana21-; -11j?9 c-sak~ ---- bui no 146 of urn  the child marriage restraint (amendment) bill, 1977a bill further to amend the child mcrrriage restnint act, 1929, and to make certain consequential amendments in the indian christian marrirge act, 1872, and the hindu marri4ge act, 1955 be it enacted by parliament in the twenty-eighth year of the republic of india as follows:-1 (1) this act may be called the child marriage restraint (amendment) act, 1977 5 (2) it shall come into ,force on such date as the central government may, by notifica'tion in the official gazette, appoint short title and eom_ meneement 19 of 1929 2 in section 2 of the child :marri'age restraint act, 1929 (hereinafter amendreferred <to as the principal act), for elause (a), the folllowing clause ment of shall be suibstltuted, namely:-section 2 10 '(a) "child" means a person who, if a male, has not completed ~-wenty-one years of age, and if a female, has not completed sixteen years of agei' | 3                | after    ||-------------------|----------|| section           |          || 6                 |          || of                |          || the               |          || principal         |          || act,              |          || the               |          || following section | shall    || inserted,         | namaly:- || insertion         |          || ot                | new      || section           |          || 7                |          || 2                 |          || of                |          || 1974              |          || is                |          || "7               | the      || under             | this     || act               |          || as                |          || if                |          || they              | were     || oftences          |          || to                |          || be                |          || cogniz-           |          || able              |          || for               |          || certain           |          || purposes         |          || (a)               |          || for               |          || the               |          || purpose           |          || of                |          || investigation     | of       || (b)               | for      || of                |          || matters           | other    || than              |          || (i)               |          || matters           |          || refer-            |          || red               |          || to                |          || in                |          || section           | 42       || (ii)              |          || the               | arrest   || without           | a        |c in aect10n 8 of the principal act,-amendment of section 8 5 of 1898 2 of 1974 (a) for the words and figures "code of criminal procedure, 1898", the words and figures "code of criminal procedure, 1973" shall be substituted; (b) for the words "presidency magistrate or a magistrate of the s first class", the words "metropolitan magistrate or a judicial magistrate of the first class" shall be substituted 5 of 1898 amendment of aection 10 5 in section 10 of the princip8ll act, for the words and ftgures "code of criminal procedure, 1898", the words and ftgures "code of criminal procedure, 1973" shall be substituted 10 6 the enactments &opecified in the schedule are hereby amended in the manner mentioned therein amendment of certain enactmenta  the schedule [see section 6]| year        ||-------------|| amenclmrnt || is          |in aec:tion 60,-15 the indian christian marriage act, 1872 (i) in clause (i), foi the words "eighteen yean" aod "fifteen yean", the words "twenty-one 20 yean" and "sixteen years" shall, respectively, be substituted; (ii) for the jx"oviio, the f'oiiowiq provilo alwl be iubitieuted, namely:-3s ·'prowied that no marriage hail be certified under this part when the woman intendiqr to be married has not completed her eighteenth yt-ar un! iuch colllellt u is mentioned 30 in if'ction 19 hu been given to the intended marriage or unlels it appears that there is no penon living authorized to give such consent" 3s 1955 the hindu marriage act 1955 in aec:tioo ,5 in c:iauie (iii), for the words "eifjteen yean" and "fifteen yean", the words "twenty-one yean" and "sixteen yean" ahail, respectively, be substituted  statement of objects and reasonsthe child marriage restraint act 1929 was enacted with a view to prevent child marriages, namely a marriage to which either of the contracting pa11ties is under a specified age originally the age limit for a male was eighteen years and for a ft-male fourteen years the age limit was subsequently raised in the case of females from fourteen to fifteen by the amending act 41 of 1949 vioilation of the provisions of the act :is made punishable 2 the question of incr~asing the minimum age of marriage for males and females has been considered in the present context when there is an urgent need to check the growth of population in the country such increase of the minimum age of marriage will result in lowering the total fertility rate on account of lesser span of married life it will also result in more responsible parenthood and in better health of the mother and child a bill introduced for this purpose in the lok sabbs on 25th august, 1976, lapsed with the dissolution of the lok sabha on 18th january 1977 the matter has been examined in all its aspects again 3 the bill seeks to amend the child marriage restraint act 1929, to increase the minimum age of marriage from fifteen to sixteen for females and from eighteen to twenty-one for males and to make consequenttal amendments in the hindu marriage act, 1955, and the indian chri8tian marriage act, 1872 it is also being provided that offences under the child marriage restraint act may be investigated upon by a police officer under the code of criminall procedure as if it were a cognizable offence the police officer shall, however, not have the power to arrest without a warrant or an order of a magistrate shanti bhushan new dzli'ii; the 6th decemb~ 1977  annexure extracts nom 'i'he child maritime restraint ar:r, 1929 (19 of 1929)     definitions ~ in this act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject art context,-(a) "child" means a person who, if a male, is under eighteen years of age, and if, a female, is under fifteen years of age;      5 of 1898 jurisdiction under this act 8 notwithstanding anything contained in section 190 of the code of criminal procedure, 1898, no court other than 'that of a presidency magistrate or a magistrate of the first class shall take cognizance of, or try, any offence under this act       5 of 1898 prelimi nary inquiries into offence 10, ,any court, on receipt of a complaint of an offence of which it is authorised ,to take cogntzance, shall, unless i't dismisses the complaint under section 203 of the code of criminall procedme, 1898, either itself make an inquiry under section 202 of that code or direct a magistrate subordinate to it to make such inquiry        extract from the indian christian marriage act, 1872 (15 of 1872)   60 every marriage between indian christians applying for a certifica!te, shall, without the preliminary notice required under part iii, be certified under this part, if the following conditions be fulfilled, and not otherwise: -on what conditions marriages of indiad christians may be certified (1) the age of the man intending to be married shall not be under eighteen years, and the age of the woman intending to be manied shall not be under flfteen years;   - - - \provided that no marriage shall be certified under this part when either of the parties intending to be married' has not completed his or her eighteenth year, unless such consent as is mentioned in section 19 has been given to the intended marriage, or unless it appears that there is no person living authorized to give such cons:mt,    -   4  extract from the hindu marriage act, 1955- (25 of 1955) - - - - conditions for a hindu marriage 5 a marriage may be solemnized between any two hindus, if the following conditions are fu1ftlled, namely:-- - - - - (iii) the bridegroom has completed the age of eighteen yeal's and the bride the age of fifteen years at the time of the marriage; - - - - -  i billfurther to amend the child marriage restraint act, 1929 and to make certain consequential amendments in the indian christian marriage act 1872, and the hindu marriage act, 1955 (shti shanti b hus han, minister of law, justice and company affairs) 