President gives consent to Child Marriage Restraint Bill

President Abdul Hamid today gave consent to the Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2017 that has a special provision allowing underage marriages under ‘special circumstances.’

Keeping intact a provision that allows marriage of underage girls and boys in “special circumstances”, the Jatiya Sangsad on February 27 passed the Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2017 with 18 and 21 as minimum marriageable age for women and men respectively.

After passage of the bill in parliament, different right bodies have urged the President not to give his consent to the bill. 

The bill was passed despite many pleas, petitions and protests by rights groups who think it is never a good idea to keep any room for marriages prior to one's adulthood in a country where one of the world's highest percentages of child marriages takes place.

The “special circumstances” provision of the law would permit parents and in the absence of parents, a girl's or boy's guardians, to get a court order and marry their wards off even before they reach the minimum marriageable age in their (the children's) “best interests”.

Those working for the cause of preventing child marriages argue that such a leeway in the name of “special circumstances” would jeopardise the whole purpose of the law and people would tend to abuse the provision in getting girls married early.

Three lawmakers from the opposition Jatiya Party sought to bring in some amendments and elicited public opinion before passage of the bill, but their pleas were turned down in majority voice vote.

The president also gave consent to the Ansar Battalion [Amendment] Bill 2017 and Bangladesh Unnyan Gobeshona Council Bill 2017, said a release issued by the parliament secretariat.