She can’t drink. She can’t drive. Discotheques are strictly out of bounds for her. And the right to exercise her electoral franchise is still some years away.

However, it seems that she can marry. Though the law states that she can’t get married until she turns 18, the Delhi High Court said last week that marriage was something she could consider, if she wanted to, that is.

While deliberating on the case of a 15-year-old girl who had eloped with and married her boyfriend, the court observed that it was better for the girl to stay married to her spouse than return to her parents. Though that was, in a way, against the law, the jury opted to treat the case as exceptional, and passed a singular verdict keeping in mind the best interests of the girl.

To back up its verdict the court stated that a 15-year-old girl had reached an “age of discretion”. Hence, the marriage of a girl above the age of 15 was legally valid, provided she opted for it of her own free will.

While the statement may have been made in the context of the case in question, many critics of the court’s ruling see it as a general pronouncement that could be extended to other cases as well. And they believe that the fallout of such extensions, if they do occur in the future, could have a serious impact on Indian society.

“It was in order to make concessions for a single child that the case was probably treated in a subjective realm,” explains Delhi-based advocate and social activist Ashok Agarwal. “But it could be seen by many as a retrogade step for society in general.”

The apprehension that currently rages in many circles is not wholly unfounded. For centuries, Indian society has been plagued with a serious malady that goes by the name of child marriage. And despite all the efforts made to check the practice, the marriage of minors continues, especially in rural areas.

In other words, thousands of young girls in the country are initiated ? year after year ? into a life of misery at an age when they would rather do all the things that DAVP promotionals repeatedly say they ought to do. But despite the mass awareness campaigns which routinely appear in newspaper advertorials or TV ad slots, childhood still remains an elusive experience for many of India’s girl children.

Apart from being deprived of quality time to be spent on education and juvenile indulgences, several girls in India are introduced to motherhood before they can even spell childcare correctly. Clearly, handling a baby at an age when dressing up dolls is quite the norm can be difficult, even with a little help from the family.

The 2001 census estimated that almost 50 per cent of Indian women got married before they turned 18. About 18 per cent of all births in India occurred to mothers aged between 15 and 19, and some three lakh Indian girls under the age of 15 had at least one child. “We recently met a girl from Jharkhand who, at 15, had already borne three children,” says Girija Vyas, chairperson, National Commission for Women (NCW).

Subhashini Ali, president, All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA), echoes Vyas’s sentiments. “Premature maternity is severely detrimental to the health of girl children and diluting the minimum age for marriage could only compound that problem,” she says. Her comment, in turn, happens to be in tune with a United Nations Population Fund report released earlier this week, which says that more women aged between 10 and 14 are likely to die of maternity or childbirth than those between 20 and 24. The risk is twofold for women between 15 and 19.

The report also highlights other problems such as HIV/AIDS transmission, which increases considerably among minor women who are not yet mature to take decisions regarding contraception or safe sex.

If physical health is severely jeopardised by premature wedlock, the psychological costs are heavy too. Explains psychiatrist Samir Parikh, “A 15-year-old girl is an impulsive human being who tends to act out of peer pressure. And while human relations are a prevalent issue in her mind, her decision-making powers are yet to be developed,” he says. “A decision taken at such an age is not very concrete, and can soon lead to sundry problems of mind and body.”

It is anybody’s guess, then, how things may change for the worse if validity is granted to marriages below 18, which still remains the legal age of marriage for girls in India. “It could encourage child trafficking, for one,” says Vyas. “Many of the 17,000 victims of child trafficking we met during our field trips in the past six months said they had been sold in the name of marriage. The number could only increase in the future if preventive steps are not taken,” she notes.

The NCW is planning to appeal to the Centre, urging the government to ensure that no advantage is taken of the pronouncement by the court of law. “The AIDWA, while welcoming the sympathetic aspect of the court’s decision, has presented a memorandum to law minister H.R. Bhardwaj asking for intervention to see that nothing is done to dilute the minimum age of marriage,” says Ali. The law also makes room for public interest litigations, to be filed by individuals or organisations against the verdict, says Agarwal.

It remains to be seen if the appeals are taken note of in due course of time. Meanwhile, an awareness overdrive is what many see as a viable option to check child marriage, particularly rampant in several pockets of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan. About 14 per cent of all girls married in Madhya Pradesh are reportedly between 10 and 14, according to the UNFPA report.

“But it was through mass awareness that some 10,000 child marriages were stopped in the state,” claims Vyas. “If it worked in Madhya Pradesh, it can work elsewhere too.” Besides, the NCW has also been rallying to make marriage registrations compulsory in India. “That is another effective way to ensure that minors are not made to marry,” says Vyas.

Meanwhile, in a remote village that dots the great Indian hinterland, a girl is being done up in red even as she clutches her favourite toy. And it’s difficult to say if the law is on her side. Like most things in life, that’s subjective.