The Hindu Women's Organisation of T&T maintains its demands for the Marriage Acts of Trinidad and Tobago to be amended.
It reflects upon its advocacy in this regards which spanned the period November 2012-May 2013 when a petition which attracted close to 1000 signatures was presented to the former Minister of Legal Affairs Mr Prakash Ramadhar.
We unflinchingly voice our concerns at the recent views of Mr Harripersad Maharaj, President of the Inter-Religious Organisation and Mrs Raziah Ahmed, President of the National Muslim Women of Trinidad and Tobago who claimed to reportedly speak for all Muslims.
As we seek to refute their validation of tradition for maintaining the current Marriage Acts, we cite the following extract from the 2011 publication by The Royal Commonwealth Society Briefing Paper: What the Commonwealth can do to end early and forced marriage).
"Outdated laws and practices that are oppressive should be abolished and replaced by new laws and policies. The British Slavery Abolition Act was passed in 1833 and the slaves were emancipated in 1834. For centuries the slaves endured various forms of cruelty and were treated as property."
"Although Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism had spoken out against it in the early 15th century and Indian religious leader and social activist, Raja Ram Mohan Roy had advocated against it in 1812, the Hindu custom of sati which dictated that a widow burns herself on a funeral pyre was practiced unabatedly.
"It was only in 1929 that this cruel custom was abolished by the British Governor-General of India. Despite the repealing and/or criminalising of these barbaric acts against women, there are laws and practices that still advocate and sanction violence against women."
At that time, Commonwealth member states were discussing the recognition of early and forced marriage as constituting "a violation of the most basic fundamental rights."
We also draw attention to the following:
�2 That when the Orisa Marriage Act came into effect in 1999, it set the age of marriage at 16 for females and 18 for males.
�2 That the Civil Marriage Act, although at 18 years, the minimum age of marriage is not stated, may be implied. Legally therefore, the minimum age of marriage is according to the act, established in common law–12 years for females and 14 years for males. This is an aberration which needs to be addressed bearing in mind that in England itself, the law was changed and the minimum age of marriage was increased in 1929.
Our resolution of 2012 was based on the age of consent of 16 which it was at that time. We have since revised our resolution in keeping with the revised age of consent which is 18 years.
Our revised petition will be placed on-line within 24 hours as we look forward to receiving substantial support from Hindu women in particular and the citizenry in general.
Hindu Womens
Organisation of T&T