The Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), a secular mass organisation that works for the welfare of Muslim women, demanded that the incidents of child marriages among the Muslim community should be registered under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) and the law must specifically mention it.
Addressing a press conference on the issue on Saturday in Mumbai, Noorejahan Safia Niaz, BMMA co-founder, demanded a codified Muslim family law and said, “While the comprehensive legislation is yet to happen, the government must ensure that the PCMA, 2006 becomes expressly applicable to the Muslim community.”
In 2015, the BMMA published a national study of 4,710 respondents on Muslims’s views on reforms in Muslim personal law. 55% of respondents were below the age of 18, out of which 15% were below the age of 15 years of age. A study done in Maharashtra, showed, out of 505 women, 333 were married on or before turning 18 years. The position paper by the body points out, “As per the 2011 census, child marriage is rampant amongst Hindus at 31.3% and 30.6% amongst in Muslims.”
