Many readers came across the news published in The Daily Star on January 19, 2016 as it appeared in the page 5, entitled, “Under-18 girls must not be married off”. Members of civil society along with representatives of children organizations gathered on January 18, 2016 to demand the withdrawal of special clause of the proposed Child Marriage Restraint Act.  Human rights organizations including Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK) under the banner of "Child Rights Advocacy Coalition in Bangladesh” voiced their opposition to the proposed piece of law because the draft contains a provision for the marriage of underage girls in special cases. International NGOs including Save the Children, Plan and World Vision who are also members of Child Rights Advocacy Coalition in Bangladesh, also fear a rise in the number of child marriage if this Act is promulgated.

Bangladesh is one of the earliest signatories of United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and it has been stated in the very first article, “For the purposes of the present Convention, a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier”. According to Girls not Brides, a global partnership of more than 700 civil society organisations, Bangladesh continues to have one of the highest child marriage rates worldwide and the highest rate of marriage involving girls under 15. 52% of girls are married by their 18th birthday, and 18% by the age of 15. New law if passed would only make the situation worse.

In general, any male who is yet to complete 21 years or any female who is yet to complete 18 years will be considered underage for getting married according to the proposed law. However, there is a special provision as well. As per section 19 of the proposed law, if any marriage takes place in line with the directives of a court and consent of the guardians alongside specific process in special context in the best interest of an underage female, such marriage will not be considered as an offence.

Considering the vicious scenarios of child marriage in Bangladesh, we should remove special provision from the proposed Child Marriage Restraint bill.

The writer is a human rights worker.