A year ago, Sebulon (name changed on request) was betrothed to a 17-year-old girl from his home town Malappuram on the condition that the marriage would be solemnized when the girl attains the legal age of marriage. Shaji went back to his workplace in a Gulf country hoping to go home as a groom in early 2020. But he could not fly back because of Covid-19. Hence both families decided to put the marriage on hold until the pandemic subsided.
But things took a dramatic turn a few days ago following a discussion in a family Whatsapp group about the union government's plan to raise the minimum age of marriage for women. Shaji's father asked him to rush home immediately. He boarded the flight the very next day. Now undergoing the mandatory seven-day quarantine at his home, Shaji, if tested negative, will marry his fiancée on the eighth day, in a quiet family ceremony.
This is not just Shaji’s story. Kerala is witnessing a huge rise in the number of weddings for the past few days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, in the second week of October, that a decision on raising the legal age of marriage for women would be taken soon.
But things took a dramatic turn a few days ago following a discussion in a family Whatsapp group about the union government's plan to raise the minimum age of marriage for women. Shaji's father asked him to rush home immediately. He boarded the flight the very next day. Now undergoing the mandatory seven-day quarantine at his home, Shaji, if tested negative, will marry his fiancée on the eighth day, in a quiet family ceremony.
This is not just Shaji’s story. Kerala is witnessing a huge rise in the number of weddings for the past few days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, in the second week of October, that a decision on raising the legal age of marriage for women would be taken soon.
