Heena Sharma Blog

Delaying marriage by even one year could significantly reduce a young woman’s chances of being subjected to domestic violence in India, according to a new study. Over the decade to 2016, there has been a 20-percentage-point reduction in the number of girls married off before 18 years of age in India--from 47% in 2006 to 27% in 2016, as per Unicef. But this still leaves 1.5 million girls more vulnerable to domestic violence than those marrying later in life, concluded the study which was jointly conducted by the Indian Institute of Management, Indore and the Shiv Nadar University. Incidents of “less severe physical violence”--such as pushing, arm twisting, hair pulling or slapping--could fall from being inflicted on 25% of all women to 18% with just a one-year delay in marriage. More severe forms of physical violence--such as kicking, beating, choking, burning, threatening or attacking with a weapon--could decrease from 6% prevalence to 2%, the 2018 study found. Read Com

The Supreme Court also said that an adult couple can live together even if they are not married Latest News  : An adult couple has a right to live together without marriage, the Supreme Court said, while asserting that a 20-year-old Kerala woman, whose marriage   had been annulled, could choose whom she wanted to live with. The top court held that  live-in relationships   were now even recognised by the Legislature and they had found a place under the provisions of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. The observations came while the apex court was hearing a plea filed by one Nandakumar against a Kerala High Court order annulling his marriage   with Thushara on the ground that he had not attained the legal age of marriage. Prohibition of Child Marriage Act states that a girl can’t marry before the age of 18, and a boy before 21. Nandakumar, who had approached the top court, will turn 21 on May 30 this year. The high court had also granted the custody