PLD India has starated the Adolescent Sexuality and EarlyMarriage Series which comprises of researchstudies, consultation reports and analysis byPartners for Law in Development (PLD), that bringout the complex interplay between the age of sexualconsent, early marriage and structural inequalities inthe lives of adolescents and youth from marginalizedpopulations in India. Using a socio-legal lens, thisseries reveals ways in which deterrence approachesand criminalization render this population morevulnerable to harm and less able to accessrights protection

The series includes the recent publication Child Marriage Prosecutions in India - Case Law Analysis of Actors, Motives and Outcomes 2008-2017

The study evolved from an initial interest in judicial responses toadolescent consensual sex following the increase in the legal ageof consent, from 16 to 18 years (2012), to its present focus onprosecutions connected with child marriage. Periodic reviews of dataalong different parameters, sectoral interest and engagement with thefindings within a growing push for strong child marriage laws shapedthe study’s direction. The widespread assumption about the power ofthe law, indeed strong law, as the driver of social change, thrived inan evidence vacuum. With nothing but references to landmark casesor to the low numbers of prosecutions reported by the National CrimeRecords Bureau, the rhetoric that normative goals are best realizedthrough punitive force remained largely uncontested. It became clearthat evidence on how the law is used within local contexts was necessaryfor any meaningful engagement with law reform discourses. It thenbecame compelling to review the case law along different parameters,to harvest its rich insights in ways that social power relations ratherthan intended legislative goals animate the use of law.

Read the full report here:

(36) (PDF) Child Marriage Prosecutions in India - Case Law Analysis of Actors, Motives and Outcomes 2008-2017 | PLD India - Academia.edu