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Dr Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, CJI Table of Contents I. Background ................................................................................................... 6 II. Procedural history and submissions .......................................................... 9 III. A vicious cycle: socio-economic determinants and effects of child marriage .............................................................................................................. 14 IV. A national reckoning: child marriage in India ...................................... 18 A. The age of consent ................................................................................. 18 i. Rukhmabai’s case ................................................................................. 20 ii. Phulmoni Dasi’s case ............................................................................ 24 B. Regulating the age of marriage ............................................................. 25 C. The Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 ................................................. 27 V. Contemporary legal framework ................................................................. 31 A. The Prohibition of