(In India, it is illegal for a girl under age 18 to wed. The legal age for men to marry is 21.) Data provided to NPR by the government in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, where Mutturs district is located, shows that officials have stopped 208 child marriages in the 5 months from April through August.

Is it legal to marry a girl?

Legal status In the United States, the age of sexual consent varies by state, territory/district, or federal law, and typically ranges from 16 to 18 years. Between 2000 and 2015, at least 200,000 minors were legally married in the United States. 86% of those marriages were between that minor and an adult.

At what age should a Indian girl marry?

Similarly, the Law Commission, in 2008, had recommended a uniform age of marriage for boys and girls at 18 years, and not 21. In 2018, the National Human Rights Commission had also recommended that there should be a uniform age of marriage for boys and girls.

Can you marry a girl under 18 in India?

The minimum legal age for marriage was increased to 15 for girls in 1949, and to 18 for females and 21 for males in 1978. The child marriage prevention laws have been challenged in Indian courts, with some Muslim Indian organizations seeking no minimum age and that the age matter be left to their personal law.

Can a 17 year old girl get married in India?

The 2006 PCM Act sets the legal age for marriage at 18 years for girls and 21 years for boys.