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Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (1): 24-34 

 

23 

 

Child Marriage in Bangladesh: Policy and Ethics 

  

Ahnaf Tahmid Arnab1 Md. Sanwar SIRAJ, Ph.D.2  

 
1. Undergraduate student, Department of Government and Politics, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka-

1342, Bangladesh, Email: ahnaf.bracket@gmail.com  

2. Assistant Professor, Department of Government and Politics, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka-1342, 

Bangladesh. siraj_sanwar@juniv.edu (Corresponding Author)   

 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3329/bioethics.v11i1.49193  

 

Abstract: Bangladesh is a Muslim-majority society with more than 163 million people. Most 

Bangladeshis hold the ideals of Islamic norms and values which is manifest in all sorts of socio-

cultural behaviour. In reference to such values, the tradition of legitimizing child marriage in 

Bangladesh is the issue that needs to be addressed in a holistic yet rigorous approach. Currently 

Bangladesh ranks 4th in the world and 1st in Asia in terms of child marriage. Recently the Child 

Marriage Restraint Act 1929 has been abolished and it has been replaced by the Act of 2017 

preserving article 2 of the previous statute, the legal age for marriage for a boy 21 and for a girl 18. 

This Act adds article 19 which legalizes minors (below 18 years of age) to be married off with the 

consent of the parents/guardians at the presence of a magistrate under “special circumstances” deemed 
with securing the best interest for them. The law artfully coincides with the Muslim Marriage Law 

which allows participants of 15 years and above to get legally married and as such contradicts the 

international law and the Act of 2017 itself. In the West intimate relationships including extra-marital 
cohabitation before reaching 18 years of age are culturally accepted. In contrast, such extra-marital 

and intimate relationships are strictly prohibited in Muslim-majority societies, which are dearly 

adhered in Bangladeshi Muslim culture. This study examines how the religious cultural and socio-

economic realities influence child marriage practice in Bangladesh. Along with secondary documents, 
we interviewed 22 individuals including the Deputy Commissioner, the District Women and Children 

Affairs Officer, elected Union Parishad Chairman and Members, Social Workers, married couples and 

their parents/guardians at Manikganj district. In addition, we also conducted a mass survey with 62 

randomly selected participants, and a voluntary online survey where the opinion of another 53 young 
students were collected to find broad opinion. We also collected stories of how marriages take place at 

the rural, urban and sub-urban areas in Bangladesh. The study has revealed that Bangladeshis does not 

support marriage at early ages but socio-economic reality often pushes poor into getting their children 

married at early ages. Many view that the special provision may encourage child marriage in the 

country. This study suggests that the government of Bangladesh should redefine public policy in 

regard to finding a middle ground between Islamic ethics and international values by exploring 

isomorphic mimicry and other socio-culturally accepted measures with a view to abolishing child 
marriage successfully.   

Key-words: Child Marriage, Muslim, Culture, Bangladesh. 

 

Introduction: Bangladesh is a South 

Asian Muslim- majority society where 

90% of the inhabitants are Muslims, 9% 

Hindus and the rest 1% belong to 

Christianity, Buddhism and other religious 

groups1. Thus, it is obvious that Muslim 

values and ethics occupy the largest share 

in mainstream Bangladeshi culture. It is a 

breeding zone for multiple socio-political 

paradoxes. Such an alarming issue in the 



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0 20 40 60 80

Niger

Central African Republic

Chad

Bangladesh

Mali

South Sudan

Burkina Faso

Guinea

Mozambique

India

Chart 1: Top 10 Countries with Chart 1: Top 10 Countries with Chart 1: Top 10 Countries with Chart 1: Top 10 Countries with 
Highest Rates in Child MarriageHighest Rates in Child MarriageHighest Rates in Child MarriageHighest Rates in Child Marriage

statecraft is its policies regarding early 

marriage, and how instead of reducing 

cases of child marriage for which the 

policies were designed in the first place, it 

is being subtly encouraged. The legal 

practice of child marriage has been 

prevalent in Bangladesh since the Child 

Marriage Restraint Act adopted in 1929. 

Section 2 of this Act states that the legal 

age for marriage for a boy is 21 and for a 

girl 18. The present child marriage rate in 

Bangladesh is the highest in Asia, with 52 

percent of girls getting married before 18 

years of age, and 18 percent married 

before turning 152. It ranks 4th in the 

world, second only to India in numbers, 

the three other countries where the child 

marriage rate is higher than Bangladesh 

are backward African countries3. Studies 

have rooted out the eminent causes of 

child marriage in Bangladesh, which 

primarily include poverty, lack of 

education and social barriers, such as- the 

thought of ensuring the protection of the 

daughter by getting her married off at a 

young age4. A 2018 report5 shows various 

socio-economic reasons which provoke the 

practice of child marriage. These include 

safety issues, perceived lower value of the 

girl child, unequal education and 

livelihood opportunities, gendered norms 

and harmful practices, and heightened 

vulnerabilities due to natural disasters. 

According to a 2017 UNICEF report6, 

among the countries with the highest 

rates of child marriage before age 18 

(counted among women now 20 to 24), 

Bangladesh ranks 4th globally. Its position 

remains just behind that of 3 African 

countries, namely- Chad, Central African 

Republic and Niger (see Chart 1). 

 

Lately, the 1929 Act has been abolished 

and a new law called the Child Marriage 

Restraint Act 2017 has been passed 

keeping article 2 of the 1929 Act, which 

contains the legal age for marriage in 

Bangladesh, unchanged. The new law adds 

a new provision in article 19 that 

describes: “…under such special 

circumstances as may be prescribed by 

rules in the best interests of the minor, at 

the directions of the court and with consent 

of the parents or the guardian of the minor, 

as the case may be, it shall not be deemed 

to be an offence under this Act”. This 

means that adolescents at any age can get 

married legally by taking the consent from 

their parents/guardians and seeking 

permission from the courts under “special 

circumstances” for securing the best 

interests of the bride and the groom. But 

the provision does not specifically explain 

the term “special circumstance” or what 

Chart 1 shows the position of Bangladesh 

among the countries with the highest rates in 

child marriage. 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (1): 24-34 

 

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kind of “interests” it would serve for the 

participants. So, a set of question 

relevantly arises including who will get 

benefitted from the law? And how could it 

help in decreasing current child marriage 

rate in the country?  

 

The Muslim law keeps the minimum age 

for marriage at 15 years or the age when 

puberty begins, since Islam encourages 

early marriage to prevent extra-marital 

relationships. In the case for formal 

marriages, the Muslim law differs to a 

great extent from the international law 

which is currently being followed in the 

state. The internationally recognized laws 

state that the minimum age for a person to 

get married is 18 years. UNICEF deems 

the act of marrying off a person before 18, 

or a minor, to be a violation of human 

rights. It states that “…marriage before the 

age of 18 is a fundamental violation of 

human rights. Many factors interact to 

place a child at risk of marriage, including 

poverty, the perception that marriage will 

provide ‘protection’, family honor, social 

norms, customary or religious laws that 

condone the practice, an inadequate 

legislative framework and the state of a 

country’s civil registration system. While 

the practice is more common among girls 

than boys, it is a violation of rights 

regardless of sex”7. The reason for 

selecting 18 as the ‘age of adulthood’ does 

not have a particular scientific basis. 

Rather it is linked mostly to the age of 

universal suffrage or voting rights. This 

universal bar of 18 years is therefore 

championed by the developed western 

societies, without paying heed to the 

geographic, psychological or socio-

cultural attributes of distinctive nations. 

Research works are yet being conducted to 

find out the age at which the psychological 

growth of a human being attains a 

minimum threshold. The age of maturity 

and the minimum age for marriage are not 

to be entangled here, since there is a lack 

of proper scientific documentation in 

determining either of the two.   

The Western communities have fixed 18 

years as the age of maturity for consent. 

But one can easily find infinite cases of 

premarital sexual contacts, pregnancies 

and live-in relationships (where the 

partners cohabitate without formal 

wedding procedures) globally, before the 

participants turn 18. And these practices 

are taking place with the consent of the 

people involved. So, is consent only 

required when two people want to be 

formally engaged in a marital relationship? 

Since it is an established fact that when a 

person reaches puberty, s/he develops 

sexual cravings and thus stepping towards 

the path of fulfilling those desires is very 

natural and evidential. This biological fact 

is thoroughly reflected in the culture of the 

West, which is different from the Muslim 

culture. The important thing is that the 

western secular culture, upon which the 

international laws regarding marriage and 

human rights are based on, approves 

premarital sexual relationships and 

cohabitation. Besides, only in recent years, 

the neurobiological underpinnings of 

“maturity” are being researched for legal 

institutions – where primarily the growth 

of the “frontal cortex” of human brains are 

argued as signs of maturity8. Like other 

majority Muslim societies such as 

Bangladesh, an act which is called “Zina” 

or fornication, is considered outrageous, 

extra-religious, and is strictly prohibited. 

There are two fundamental sources in 

Muslim laws – the Holy Qur’an (the 

verbatim words of Almighty Allah) and 



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the Hadith (the sayings, actions and 

practices of Prophet Muhammad and his 

companions). These offer references for 

the prohibition of extra-marital 

relationships as follows: “do not go near 

adultery, surely it is an indecency, and an 

evil way [of fulfilling sexual urge]” 

(Qur’an, 17:32); "the believers are... those 

who protect their sexual organs except 

from their spouses... Therefore, whosoever 

seeks more beyond that [in sexual 

gratification], then they are the 

transgressors" (Qur’an, 23:5-6). The 

Hadith also states “receive teaching from 

me, receive teaching from me. Allah has 

ordained a way for those women. When an 

unmarried male commits adultery with an 

unmarried female, they should receive one 

hundred lashes and banishment for one 

year. And in case of married male 

committing adultery with a married 

female, they shall receive one hundred 

lashes and be stoned to death” (Sahih 

Muslim, 17:4191). Muslims in Bangladesh 

often see it as their religious duty to have 

their children married off before reaching 

puberty as it may ensure psychological and 

physical wellbeing of their children. 

However, socio-economic realities often 

push poor people towards child marriage 

in order to ensure their social security and 

lift themselves out of poverty. 

As Bangladesh is a poverty-ridden society 

in which more than 20% people still live 

below the poverty line9. Millions of people 

cannot afford healthy food, shelter, clean 

water, medication and energy. Millions 

more live in the streets. A large chunk of 

60%  of the population live in the rural 

areas10, and are accustomed to social 

superstitions, such as “dowry system”. In 

order to avoid the burden of giving higher 

dowry rates, the poor, illiterate and 

unaware parents/guardians often marry 

their daughters off at comparatively 

younger age. Henceforth, these are the 

people who may certainly take advantage 

of the existing laws and ultimately instead 

of decreasing, child marriage will 

inevitably increase. It will adversely affect 

the health of the under-age married 

children, and will hinder the socio-

economic development of the country.  

In Iran, the legal age for marriage at 18 

according to the “Convention on the 

Rights of the Child” (1994). But it still 

reserves some ambiguity in situations 

where the law may contradict the Shariah 

Law. It allows girls below 13 and boys 

below 15 to get married, since the “age of 

majority” is calculated based on lunar 

years11. Turkey became a signatory to the 

Convention on the Elimination of All 

Forms of Discrimination Against Women 

(CEDAW) in 1985 and set its legal age for 

marriage at 18 according to the 

Convention on the Rights of the Child,12 

yet its Directorate of Religious Affairs 

suggested in 2018 that children as young 

as 9 could marry under Islamic Law13. In 

Pakistan, for example, the traditions of 

swara (marrying off girls to resolve 

conflict), addo baddo (marriage within 

families or tribes), watta satta (exchange 

of wives) or pait likkhi (getting girls 

married often before their birth) – are still 

in practice14. Pakistan still follows the 

Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929, 

setting the legal age for marriage of boys 

at 18 and girls at 16 – which Bangladesh 

abolished in its reformed act of 2017. 

On the contrary, in Malaysia for example, 

although the state laws require for women 

to be 18 to marry, yet through consent or 

shariah courts, a woman can marry off if 

she reaches 16 years of age15. Thus, we 



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can see that, although there is a narrow 

deviation from international standards, yet 

the age-limit is specified: not below 16, 

unlike that in the “special provision” 

(Section 19, Child Marriage Restraint Act 

2017) in Bangladesh. In the case for 

Bangladesh, similar actions can be 

undertaken through the neo-institutionalist 

approach called isomorphic mimicry, 

which implies: “different organisms 

evolving to look similar without actually 

being related. In particular, isomorphic 

mimicry is the process by which one 

organism mimics another to gain an 

evolutionary advantage”16. Hence, the 

notion of isomorphic-mimicry is to 

transfer the “plausible infrastructural 

bases” from a socio-culturally similar 

society and ‘improvise’ it accordingly in 

order to practically use it in the host 

society. In Bangladesh, such a strategy 

could possibly put a greater impact on the 

early marriage issue, by defining the core 

pillars of marriage clearly and altering the 

social institutions in a controlled manner- 

through proper statutory laws and their 

implementation.  

 

Moreover, this study addresses the 

following relevant policy and ethical 

questions: (1) Should Bangladeshis follow 

Western secular and autonomy-oriented 

marriage law in regard to child marriage? 

(2) How have the Islamic cultural factors 

and socio-economic realities shaped the 

marriage law in Bangladesh? (3) What 

extent of policy reform is necessary for 

such cases? And (4) how should public 

policies be ethically and socially justified 

in the country? By analysing the views and 

perceptions of the interviewees, this study 

attempts to explore the necessary reforms 

which are ethically sound, morally 

defensible and socio-economically 

adjustable in the context of Bangladesh, 

and which may help in decreasing child 

marriage that will ensure better outcome 

for the country.  

 

Research Methodology: In addition to the 

review of secondary literature, we 

collected the primary data in two phases. 

In the first phase, we purposively 

interviewed 22 individuals including the 

Deputy Commissioner, the District 

Women and Children Affairs Officer, 

elected Union Parishad Chairman and 

Members, Social Workers, married 

couples and their parents/guardians at 

Manikganj District in March 2017. We 

asked interviewees the following 

questions: What are the causes of child 

marriage in Bangladesh? How could 

Bangladeshis refrain from the practice of 

child marriage? Do you consider that the 

current law can abolish child marriage rate 

Bangladesh? Is it ethically permissible to 

allow adolescents into getting legally 

married at any age, under ‘special 

circumstances’? We also collected stories 

from parents/guardians of married couples 

regarding how marriages take place in the 

rural and urban areas of Bangladesh. The 

views and perceptions were collected in 

Bengali as Bangladeshis love to express 

themselves in their native language, 

Bengali. The data were then transcribed 

into English. We coded and analyzed them 

using content and thematic analysis. In the 

second phase, we also conducted a mass 

survey with randomly selected 62 

participants in urban areas of Dhaka and 

sub-urban regions of Chittagong to find 

broad opinion. The majority of the 

respondents are male because the survey 

was conducted in the streets of the 

respective districts and people do not 

usually want to allow unknown people 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (1): 24-34 

 

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inside home due to security reasons. The 

sample represents are the public and 

private service holders, academics, 

businessmen, students, farmers and day-

laborers. In order to capture the thoughts 

of the young adults, we have also 

conducted a voluntary online survey where 

the opinion of another 53 respondents was 

recorded in early December 2019. This 

sample mostly involves the students of 

public and private universities. Some of 

the major questions asked to the 

respondents of both the surveys were: Do 

you know about the Child Marriage 

Restraint Act 2017? Do you support the 

‘special provision’ in article 19 of the Act? 

Do you think the current child marriage 

restraint policy will increase rather 

decrease child marriage in Bangladesh?  

 

Findings from the Field: Traditionally, 

Bangladesh is a collective society with a 

patriarchal structure in which a 

father/guardian is always positioned at the 

center of stage and is always respected by 

all the family members. Although 

decisions are usually made by the family 

members discussing together in families 

but the father/guardian plays important 

role in making decisions, especially 

decisions regarding the marriage of their 

daughters. In Bangladesh, daughters born 

in poorer households are often considered 

as a burden by their families. Marrying the 

daughter off to a man at an early age is 

therefore considered as a survival strategy 

for many Bangladeshi families, especially 

the poor ones. As Bangladesh is a rural-

based society, people who live in rural 

areas are prone to poverty and poor people 

are somehow forced to get their daughters 

married at early ages. A parent, Rahman 

whose age was 55, said that “I was married 

at the age of 22 and my wife was 14. I am 

a fisherman and live in the Jamuna 

riverside. Every day, I catch fish in 

Jamuna River and sell them out in local 

markets. The money I earn by selling fish 

in markets is generally used to bear the 

expenses of our daily lives. We have three 

daughters and two of them were married 

off at early ages. I went to the Union 

Parishad Office and was issued age 

certificates of my daughters and got them 

married at their early ages as because I 

was unable to secure the life of my 

daughters socially and even unable to feed 

them regularly. I searched for husbands for 

my daughters so as to the girls can 

depend”. A social service worker also said 

that the local representative is often 

convinced by poor parents and issues 18+ 

age certificate that is required for the legal 

marriage systems. The representative is 

sympathized and issues age certificates 

when they see that the poor parents live in 

vulnerable conditions with many of their 

daughters. The poverty is the underpinning 

factor that makes poor people more 

vulnerable in living their daily lives. It 

pushes poor families towards making 

decisions into getting their daughters 

married at early ages.  

 

A vast majority people in Bangladesh still 

live in rural areas and the prevalence rate 

of child marriage in the rural people tends 

always to be higher than the urban people. 

A question was asked to interviewees 

regarding the causes and consequences of 

early marriages in Bangladesh. For 

example, an elected Union Parishad 

Chairman who took few minutes and 

replied that “rural people feel happy when 

they see that they can get married their 

daughters at early ages. Because marrying 

off daughters at early ages ensures 

financial and social security. These 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (1): 24-34 

 

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securities are manifested as follows: 

firstly, parents don’t need to pay much 

dowry if their daughters get married at 

early ages. What I see is that a young girl 

is mostly liked by the potential brides, 

which surmounts to lesser dowry. 

Secondly, poor people, especially rural, 

are prone to have more children as poverty 

drives them to produce more children, for 

economic and awareness issues”. An 

elected Union Parishad Member added a 

few lines with a view that “poor parents 

who have more daughters are always eager 

to get their daughters married at early ages 

as they feel secure socially. Because 

marrying off daughters at early ages is 

beneficial for poor parents/guardians who 

usually have more daughters”. 

Parents/guardian always want to get their 

daughters married at early ages when they 

see that they are unable to secure their 

daughters, unable to provide the cost of 

their basic necessities i.e. food, shelter, 

cloth, education and healthcare. These 

reasons gear to increase the prevalence 

rate of child marriage higher in rural areas, 

as UNICEF reports.(17) A social worker, 

who works for the development issues, 

said that the consequences are mostly 

negative as many whose daughters are 

marrying off at early ages. He opined that 

“girls who are married at early ages often 

tend to bear children and manage 

household activities. As a result, they have 

to quit their education at early ages. It is 

not only associated with poor social 

outcomes but also it is adversely affected 

on adolescent’s physical health”. He also 

added that “adolescents who have 

pregnancies at early ages usually have an 

increased risk of death during childbirth 

and malaria, and have poor child health 

outcomes such as the incensement of 

infant mortality rates, loss of weights and 

diarrhea diseases”. Studies found that 

pregnancies as a result of early marriages 

cause negative health outcomes for girls 

and her offspring’s18. 

 

Most Bangladeshis get their children 

married at early ages as because it helps 

them to prevent doing their daughters pre-

marital physical relationships. Parents who 

have unmarried adolescent daughters at 

home are worrying about the fear of their 

daughters getting involved in pre-marital 

sexual relationships. Thus, parents want to 

have their adolescent daughters get 

married at their early ages. A father of a 

newly married adolescent girl narrated his 

opinion in a line that “as we are Muslims, 

we have to follow the rules and 

instructions offered by the Quran and 

Hadith. Pre-marital-physical relationships 

are strictly prohibited in Islam and we 

must have to get our daughters married 

when they are at the stage of their puberty. 

If our daughters do wrong things with 

others, we have to be punished for our 

wrong deeds in the day of the final 

judgment. For this reason, I got my 

daughter married before she turned 16. As 

I am a Muslim, I believe that marrying off 

my daughter at early age ensures my 

daughters physical safety and it also 

protects my family prestige and honor.” 

Muslim marriage law sharply contradicts 

with the internationally accepted law that 

is prescribed by the Bangladesh 

government. As pre-marital relationship is 

socio-culturally prohibited in Bangladesh, 

the contradiction between the Muslim 

marriage law and statutory law often 

encourages Muslims into getting their 

children married at early ages in order to 

preserve sexual and family honor.   

 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (1): 24-34 

 

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0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Question 6

Question 7

Chart 2: Opinion From Mass Survey, 

n=62

Yes

No

The following Chart 2 and Chart 3 reveal 

the answers to seven of the major 

questions asked from the questionnaire to 

the respondents in the mass survey and the 

online survey. The questions are: 

1) Do you think it is appropriate for a 

minor (>18) to get married? 2) Are you 

aware of the Child Marriage Restraint Act 

2017? 3) Do you support Article 19 of the 

Child Marriage Restraint Act 2017? 4) Do 

you think females are more victims of 

child marriage than males? 5) Is it 

appropriate for a child to get married at 15 

or less as per the Muslim Marriage Law? 

6) Do you think the current Act will 

encourage not decrease child marriage in 

Bangladesh?  7) Should the act be further 

revised? 

 

Majority (60%) of the randomly surveyed 

people was against getting their children 

married off at early ages; nearly 40% 

people and 60% of young adults are aware 

about the child marriage restraint act. 

Although their view was supportive to the 

special provisions in relation to child 

marriage but vast majority of them such as 

80% and 90% opined that such provisions 

  

 

Chart 2 is a representation of the mass survey 

(n=62) based on the questions 1-7. 

will negatively affect in the rate of child 

marriage in the country. Randomly 

surveyed people, adult and young, were 

supportive in regard to adding special 

provision in the act since they mostly 

believed that the law tacitly legalizes 

marriage at early an age. Pertaining to a 

strong sense of religious duty, the 

respondents, both in offline and online 

surveys, opted in support for a child to get 

married before 15 if their religion permits 

it. However, about 95% and 83% 

(questions 7 in Chart 2 & 3) of the 

respondents believed that the Act of 2017  

 

Chart 3 is a representation of the online survey 

(n=53) based on the questions 2, 3, 4, 5, 7. 

 

needs to be further revised. Furthermore, 

more than 70% of the respondents in the 

field                                                      

survey opined that this special provision 

would rather increase child marriage in the 

country instead of decreasing it. This 

ambiguity in the responses may have lead 

from the inclusion of the special provision 

and the inability of the Act to find a 

balance between the religious sentiments 

0% 50% 100%

Question 7

Question 5

Question 4

Question 3

Question 2

Chart 3: Opinion From Online 

Survey, n=53

Yes

No



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (1): 24-34 

 

31 

 

and socio-ethical boundaries of the people 

of Bangladesh.  

 

Apart from the special circumstances 

provision, the current state law of 

Bangladesh strictly prohibits early 

marriages in the country as it is prescribed 

as illegal before turning the age of a girl 18 

and a boy 21. A DC whom we consulted 

said that “although poor people want to get 

their daughters married at early ages but 

the administration always follows the 

stipulations of the Child Marriage 

Restraint Act, 2017. Once we are informed 

that an early marriage has taken place 

anywhere at my administrative areas, I 

promptly recommend my officials to stop 

such a marriage, and a vast number of such 

illegal marriages have been postponed 

with the help of local representatives and 

mass people”. A DWAO at the Ministry of 

Women and Children Affairs (MOWCA) 

also added that as Bangladesh socio-

economically develops and people are 

aware about the negative consequence of 

early marriage, the rate of child marriage 

decreases day by day. She also said that 

the administration is stricter than that of 

previous days to stop early marriage in the 

country.  

 

Many viewed that the special provision 

added in the new law (Child Marriage 

Restraint Act, 2017) in article 19 will help 

increasing, not decreasing- child/early 

marriage in the country. A guardian of a 

newly married girl said that “as the current 

act does not specifically define about the 

provision 19 titled as special 

circumstances, poor people will easily take 

the benefits in getting their adolescent 

children legally married at early ages. 

Thus, child marriage will be increased in 

the country. Critics and experts have 

opined that as nothing is defined in this 

provision, it will surely increase the 

prevalence of child marriage rate in the 

country and this provision will necessarily 

be used for many people for gaining their 

unethical benefits19. 

 

In terms of punishment for violating the 

injunctions specified in the Act of 2017, 

there are notable differences with the 

preceding Act of 1929. The latter is stricter 

in terms of imprisonment and fines, but at 

certain places there are rooms for going 

easy on the violator, through certain legal 

loopholes. Mostly, the tenure of 

imprisonment (for the 

parent/guardian/conductor) has been 

increased, for example, from 3 months 

(1929) with or without fines to 2 years (not 

less than 6 months) or a fine of Tk. 50,000, 

or both (2017). Failure to pay the fines 

may also result in 3 months of extended 

imprisonment, as of 2017. The new law 

has also added a provision to penalize the 

marriage registrar convicted of registering 

a case of child marriage with similar 

punishment as mentioned earlier. It has 

also added a counter-intuitive provision of 

exemption from accusation, which would 

dismiss the charges against a violator 

(initiator, before the crime has taken place) 

if s/he submits an affidavit or bond stating 

to refrain from such activities in the future.      

 

In terms of the ethical issues, child 

marriage is globally declared as an 

unethical practice. It is condemned in 

advanced societies, in spite of some 

inclinations in the poorer countries. The 

practice is not deliberately promoted in 

religious scripture, but the ambiguity in the 

verses often lead religious spokespersons 

to the path of misinterpretation. The 

foremost issue, as mentioned earlier, is 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (1): 24-34 

 

32 

 

neurological and physiological. The effects 

of child marriage can lead a child towards 

premature death or economic 

inefficiencies. Overall, the ethical 

implications can fuel socio-economic 

turbulence within families and societies 

and often cause obstructions in 

establishing international parameters, such 

as Sustainable Development Goals [Goal 

5.3], The Convention on the Elimination 

of all Forms of Discrimination Against 

Women (CEDAW) and other anti-

discriminatory and progressive global 

regulations. 

 

Concluding Remark: We have deduced 

that socio-economic factors such as 

poverty act as a prime mover in increasing 

the rate of child marriage in Bangladesh. 

The study has found that the poor people 

are always more prone to get their children 

married off at early their ages. In addition, 

the special provision added in the article 

19 of 2017 child marriage restraint act will 

encourage not decrease child marriage in 

Bangladesh. The study has discovered that 

poor people will tacitly take the 

opportunity of the article 19 as defines as 

‘special provision’ which legalizes minors 

to be married off with the consent of the 

parents/guardians at the presence of a 

magistrate. Since there is no definition for 

identifying those who will be included 

under the ‘special provision’, the study has 

revealed that poor people will mostly take 

such opportunity in the name of poverty. 

As more than 20% Bangladeshis still 

remain below the poverty line9. It will 

encourage child marriage throughout the 

country. We conclude that the government 

should revise the current child marriage 

restraint act to find a plausible middle-

ground between the ‘religious’ perspective 

and the ‘international’ code of ethics. 

Besides the legal age for marriage for a 

boy and a girl being 21 and 18 

respectively, the government should define 

article special provision and set the 

minimum age for marriage that is both 

morally permissible and justifiable in the 

socio-cultural environment of 

Bangladeshi. 

 

Recommendations: If the following 

recommendations are considered it will 

help the government decreasing child 

marriage rate in Bangladesh:  

 

1. According to the Child Marriage 

Restraint Act 2017, section 2 states 

that the legal age for marriage for a 

boy is 21 and for a girl it is 18. The 

law adds a new provision in article 19 

that describes that adolescents at any 

age can get married legally by taking 

the consent from their 

parents/guardians and seeking 

permission from the courts under 

“special circumstances” for securing 

the best interests of the bride and the 

groom. But the provision does not 

specifically explain the term “special 

circumstances” or what kind of 

“interests” it would serve for the 

participants. This study recommends 

that the legal age for marriage for a 

boy (21) and a girl (18) should always 

be encouraged but the article 19 that 

adds ‘special provision’ must be 

clearly defined. The people who may 

be included under the ‘special 

provision’ and the procedure through 

which they will be included – should 

also be clearly defined. Otherwise, bad 

people will get the benefits getting 

their children married off at early ages.  

 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (1): 24-34 

 

33 

 

2. The government should also undertake 

the comprehensive policy strategies to 

reduce poverty among the people of 

the country. As the COVID-19 

pandemic hits the economy worldwide, 

people in the low-and middle-income 

countries would be especially more 

vulnerable in that situation. Without 

taking appropriate policy strategy, it 

would be impossible for the 

government to reduce the rate of child 

marriage for the country.   

3. The government should properly 

implement the stipulations of the child 

marriage restraint act. Proper 

implementation of this act may 

decrease child marriage in the country. 

Accountability and transparency 

mechanisms should also be properly 

ensured to implement this act.  

 

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17.  UNICEF. Early marriage. New York: 
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Author Contributions: 1st author Ahnaf Tahmid 

Arnab conceived the idea, did the literature 

review and wrote the manuscript. 2nd author Md. 

Sanwar Siraj guided the conception of the idea, 

the manuscript writing process, and checked 

the manuscript meticulously.    

    
Conflict of interests:  The authors declare that 

there is no conflict of interest in this study. 
 

 


