News > Indian parents race to marry off daughters as officials mull raising marriage age

Indian parents race to marry off daughters as officials mull raising marriage age

India is witnessing a sharp surge in ‘panic’ or ‘distress’ weddings following the government’s proposal to raise the legal age women can wed from 18 to 21, the same as men.

Girls in their late teens are being rushed into marriages by parents worried that the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill 2021 will become law and they will have to either wait for their daughters to get hitched or face the wrath of the justice system.