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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 Child Marriage Act 2006 .......................................... 31 i. Recourse to the wedded: maintenance, residence and custody ........... 34 ii. Penalties for child marriage ................................................................... 38 iii. Preventive measures under the PCMA ................................................. 45 Injunctions against child marriage ............................................................. 45 Child Marriage Prohibition Officers ........................................................... 49 B. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 ............... 53 C. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015 ...... 55 D. The Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act 2005 ................ 59 E. The Legal Services Authorities Act 1987 .............................................. 61 F. Policies formulated by the Union Government .................................... 62 G. States’ efforts to curb child marriage ................................................... 65 i. Training schemes .................................................................................. 65 ii. Awareness programs............................................................................. 66 iii. Financial incentives ............................................................................... 68 iv. Other initiatives ...................................................................................... 69 v. Impact analysis of State schemes ......................................................... 70 VI. Traversing frontiers: international human rights norms ..................... 72 A. Universal framework ............................................................................... 73 i. Universal Declaration of Human Rights ................................................. 73 ii. Recognition in political conventions ....................................................... 74 iii. Targeted focus: the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. ............................................................................................................ 75 B. Regional framework ................................................................................ 77 i. African Union ......................................................................................... 78 ii. European Union .................................................................................... 80 iii. SAARC .................................................................................................. 83 C. Rights based framework ........................................................................ 84 i. Right to free choice and autonomy