Sushil Modi seeks law to fix uniform age of marriage for all women

Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sushil Modi on Monday said the government should come up with a legislation to fix the same marriage age for women of all religions.

During special mentions in the Rajya Sabha, Modi said different laws related to Hindus, Christians and Parsis and the Special Marriage Act 1954 has determined minimum marriage age of 18 years for a woman and 21 years for man but the Muslim Personal Law holds marriage of a girl legal after she has attained puberty.

"Karnataka, Punjab and Haryana high courts have also held it legal. High court judgement is in violation to IPC 375, POCSO Act 2012 and Prohibition of Child Marriage Act," he said.

Modi said physical relationship with girl under age of 18 is considered crime and the POCSO Act provided protection to girls under 18 years of age from sexual exploitation and provision of the Muslim Personal Law is against all these laws.

He said it discriminates marriagable age of girls on the basis of religion.

"Provision of age in marriage law should be the same for all citizens. I, therefore, request the government to frame legislation for equal age of marriage for all citizens and make provisions for strict action against its violators," Modi said.

BJP member Naresh Bansal demanded framing of a legislation to stop forced religious conversion.

He said if forced conversion is not stopped, then Hindus will become a minority and it will also become a national security threat.

Rashtriya Janata Dal member Manoj Jha sought attention of the government on inhuman condition in which Rohingya refugees are living in a Delhi detention centre.

He said the model condition issued by the home ministry requires detention centres to have basic amenities such as electricity, drinking water, hygiene, beds, sufficient toilets with running water, communication facilities and kitchen, which do not exist in Rohingya's detention centres.

"Apart from this, India is also a party to various Human and Child Rights conventions that are blatantly ignored in Delhi's detention centres. It is of vital importance that the victims of persecution who seek asylum in our country are treated with respect and dignity," Jha said, demanding immediate action from the government.

BJP member Lahar Singh Siroya, in his special mention, requested the government to develop a craft village on express lane between Mysore and Begaluru on the lines of Dilli Haat and provide space for Channapatna artists to showcase toys and crafts as well as local food.

BJP member Ajay Pratap Singh demanded to frame a legislation to regulate sale and purchase of hormones used on animal and fruits and vegetables for higher yields.

He said oxytocin hormone injection is being given to animals to get more milk which is harmful for both the animal and human beings.

Singh said bottle gourd, bitter gourd, lady finger, tomato etc are also given hormonal injection at night and they achieve full size the next day.

"These vegetables are also harmful for human health. In other words, we can say the population living in urban area, metropolitan cities, are eating poison daily," he said while pitching for legislation to regulate industries involved in the business of hormones.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's M Mohamed Abdulla demanded abolition of GST on handloom products, which was imposed for the first time in 2017.

BJP member Vivek Thakur requested the government to consider running trains for Ayodhya from all state capitals of the country to facilitate visit of devotees to Shri Ram Temple.

Communist Party of India-Marxist member A A Rahim demanded providing all benefits available to regular workers to gig workers.

Telugu Desam Party member Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar demanded that the Centre should provide relief to tobacco farmers and help them come out of financial crisis.

Biju Janata Dal member Sujeet Kumar sought central assistance for prevention and management of forest fires in Odisha.

Jandal Dal-United member Aneel Prasad Hegde sought government attention on use of herbicides leading to toxicity in crops.

AITC's Nadimul Haque urged the Health minister to consider the plight of foreign medical graduates and instruct the National Medical Council to consider their genuine demands.

BJP member Geeta Alias Chandraprabha called for a stricter regulation for online gaming and betting.

CPI-M's John Brittas urged the government to regulate sky-rocketing airfares, which has seen a 500 per cent hike for Kerala-bound flights from Mumbai and Delhi.

Aam Aadmi Party member Dr Ashok Kumar Mittal demanded restoration of flights from Punjab's Adampur airport.

BJP's Ashok Bajpai demanded establishing a hosiery hub in Kanpur.