India: Gujarat CM shouldn’t have teamed up with those wanting to suppress adults’ rights to marry who they like

The Times of India Editorial Papa don’t preach August 2, 2023 Gujarat CM shouldn’t have teamed up with those wanting to suppress adults’ rights to marry who they like First things first. Is freedom of choice in marriage a constitutional right? Yes, this is well-established as an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21. So, Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel saying he shall look into making parental consent mandatory for marriages ‘if the Constitution supports it’, is a strange statement from a constitutional post-holder whose job includes protecting rights. Such a law simply cannot be passed. Patel knows it but by tagging his authority to its desirability, he has sent a big social signal. And that’s the problem. Even when there is no disputing that both the persons getting married are adults, free to marry anyone they like, it is the objecting families that often find favour with the authorities. These parents, police and various busybodies join forces to persecute ‘elopement’, though the application of the word to consenting adults is nonsensical. Over in Tamil Nadu marriage registration was updated in 2017 to require more parental documentation. In Gujarat it is telling that some Congress MLAs share the BJP CM’s sentiment. One of them wants it to be compulsory to marry a ‘girl’ in her village. Like ‘elopement’, the widespread use of ‘girl’ and ‘boy’ mulishly infantilises young adults. Papa Knows Best, is basically a fearful reaction to the deep social transformations that mean more and more people are finally claiming the freedoms that the Constitution gave us all 73 years ago. The lives and longings of young women in particular are undergoing a sea change. That is why, even though it takes two to tango, a disproportionate amount of elopement-phobia is centred on women’s actions. From police to kangaroo courts, stigmatisation to violence, the decks are stacked very unfairly. A CM should not worsen injustices.