Underage marriage law may cause disaster: NHRC chief

The provision of Child Marriage Restraint Act 2017 that allows underage marriage in “special circumstances” may cause a disaster, increasing child marriage in the country, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chairman Kazi Reazul Hoque said today.

The government must form laws to resist misuse of the provision, Section-19, as well as to protect child rights, the NHRC chairman said.

But if the rules do not work, an amendment has to be made to omit the section from the act, he added.

Hoque made the remarks at a conference on Regional Action Plan to Combat Child Marriage jointly organised by NHRC and National Action and Coordinating Group (NACG) of South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC) held at Cirdap auditorium in the capital.

 “The Section 19, which has been discussing widely in recent times, has more chance to be misused. Whatever the government purpose was, there will be a disaster if it is misused,” he said while talking to journalists after the inaugural ceremony of the conference.

It has a huge possibility to be misused as several such incidents have already been taken place at different parts of the country, he added.

He also stressed on creating awareness among people and raising voice of the girls against child marriage.