Child Marriage In Colonial Era

The first piece of legislation in the colonial period was against the practice of child marriage. Child marriage was widely prevalent in India among people of all castes. The movement against child marriage began with the socio religious reform movements of nineteenth century. Keshub Chandra Sen, the radical leader of the Brahmo Samaj was the force behind the first piece of legislation against early marriages, which came in the form of Civil Marriage Act or Act 111 of 1872 which prescribed 14 and 18 as the minimum marriageable age for girls and boys. The issue of child marriages was raised in 1884 by Behramji Malabari, a journalist and publicist from Maharashtra. In his 'Notes on Infant Marriage and Enforced Widowhood ', he strongly argued for the regulation of the age of consent. M.G.Ranade, a prominent theist and social reformer, worked in close association with Malabari and quoted extensively from the scriptures to prove that child marriage had no scriptural sanction.
Two cases in this period further fuelled the need for regulation of child marriages. First, was the death of a ten year old child bride, Phulmoni Das, married to Hari Mohan Maity who was thirty five year old and second was the refusal of Rukhmani Bai to live with her uneducated and unemployed husband, Dadaji Bhikaji. The exhaustive efforts of Behramji Malabari and his supporters bore fruit. The Age of Consent Act of 1891 was enacted thereby raising the minimum age for marriage from ten to twelve years.