My country legislation in the field of children health care

NAME
My legal act is “The Child Marriage Restraint Act,1929”.
An Act to restrain the solemnization of child marriage.
It extends to the whole of India (except the State of Jammu and Kashmir) and it applies also to all citizen of India without and beyond India.
To eradicate the evil of child marriage, the Child Marriage Restraint Act was passed in 1929.
It shall come into force on the 1st day of April, 1930.

GOALS
The penal provisions do not invalidate the fact of marriage nor do the penal provisions apply to a child.
who ever, being a male above eighteen years of age and below twenty one, contracts a child marriage shall be punished with simple imprisonment.
It may extend to fifteen days, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.

PRINCIPLES
A person who, if a male,. is under twenty one years of age, and if a female, is under eighteen years of age.
A marriage to which either the contracting parties is a child.
Either of the parties whose marriage is or is about to be thereby solemnized.
A person of either sex who is under eighteen years of age.

STRUCTURE
India had a law prescribing the minimum age of marriage, known as the Sarda Act, 1929.
Later renamed as the Child Marriage Restraint Act (CMRA), 1929, it prohibited marriage of girls below the age of 15 years and boys below the age of 18.
India is still not a signatory to The Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration for Marriages, which came into force in December 1964.
However, it lacked implementation from the British Indian government, largely due to the fear of British authorities losing support from their loyal Hindu and Muslim communalist groups.

STRUCTURE
It obligates States Parties to –
(a) specify a minimum age for marriage
(b) prohibit legal acceptance of any marriage without the full and free consent of both parties
(c) register all marriages
It was a result of social reform movement in India.
the legislation was passed by the British Indian Government which had a majority of Indians.

CHARACTERISTICS
It fixed 14 and 18 as the marriageable age for girls and boys respectively of all communities.
They played a major role in the development of argument and actively used the device of political petition and in the process contributed in the field of politics.
It is popularly known as the Sarda Act, after its sponsor Harbilas Sarda.
Provided no woman shall be punishable with imprisonment.
For the purpose of this section, it shall be presumed unless and until the contrary is proved.
That where a minor has contracted a child marriage, the person having charge of such minor has negligently failed to prevent marriage from being solemnized.

PRACTICAL REALIZATION
Women in India were now challenging the double standards set in place by ancient shastras.
They standing outside their delegations holding placards and shouting slogans such as 'if you oppose Sarda's bill, the world will laugh at you'.
Declaring they would begin to make their own laws, free of male influence, the women's organization brought liberal feminism to a forefront.
Although this is a victory for the women's movement in India, the act itself was a complete failure.
The all-India women's association pressured politicians for their support in the bill.

SIGNIFICANCE
Pro-reform politicians, such as Motilal Nehru, were caught off guard when the organized women's association met with leaders to ask for their support in the bill.
In the two years and five months it was an active bill, there were 473 prosecutions, of which only 167 were successful.
he list goes on with 207 acquittals, with 98 cases still pending during August 1932.
Out of the 167 successful prosecutions, only 17 or so did either all of or part of their sentence.