In a controversial statement, a Bharatiya Janata Party legislator in Haryana has called for making parents’ permission mandatory before marriage.
Ram Kumar Gautam, who represents the Safidon assembly constituency, said on Tuesday that such a move is necessary, keeping in view the present situation.
"Boys and girls run away. There have been cases where parents are forced to commit suicide later,” he said during the Zero Hour in assembly.
“My request to the government is to make such a law where permission of parents is mandatory for boys and girls before marriage," said the MLA.
Gautam, a former member of the Jannayak Janta Party, switched over to the BJP ahead of 2024 assembly elections.
In Haryana, the demand for a legal provision to make parental nod mandatory for love marriages is not new. Earlier, several khaps (social clans) had sought the framing of a law in this regard amid rising honour killing incidents in the state.
“We don’t have any issue with a love marriage or court marriage, but parental permission must be sought while solemnising marriages of young couples,” Majra Khap spokesperson Samundar Phour said last year.
He had also demanded a decrease in the marriage age for girls to 16.
