PMK leader S. Ramadoss, who has run a campaign against inter-caste marriages, now wants the government to amend the Hindu Marriage Act to make the consent of parents compulsory if a girl wants to marry before she is 21.
Karnataka High Court
In a statement here, he referred to a suggestion by a Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court in 2011 that “in the case of love affair of a girl, who is below the age of 21 years, there shall be a condition that the parents of the girl should approve the marriage; otherwise such marriages shall be declared void or voidable.”
Dr. Ramadoss said the Karnataka High Court had explained the “untold misery and hardship” of parents of teenage girls falling in love. He also referred to a dispute between Tamil film-maker Cheran and his daughter over her intention to marry an assistant director.
The daughter, Kamani, has filed a complaint with the City Police accusing her father of threatening her lover.
“I can understand the pain of Cheran as a father,” he said and added that a father could not accept a bad character as his son-in-law.
Dr. Ramadoss said a resolution adopted at a meeting of leaders of all communities had made it clear that they were not against love marriages of girls who had attained the age of 21.
He said it was a good ugesture on the part of the City police to advise Cheran’s daughter to complete her studies before getting married even though she and her lover had reached marriageable age.
“If the police had followed the same principle and advised Divya and Ilavarasan of Dharmapuri, Divya’s father would not have committed suicide and the unwanted things that followed the death could have been averted,” he said.
