New Delhi, Feb. 6: The Law Commission has suggested that the marriageable age of boys be lowered on a par with girls to 18.

The minimum permissible age at which boys can marry now is 21, while that of girls is 18.

In its report on the Proposal to Amend the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, and other Allied Laws, the panel, headed by former Supreme Court judge A.R. Lakshmanan, also said marriages below 18 should be prohibited for both men and women.

The panel submitted a report to law minister H.R. Bhardwaj today.

Medical opinion, however, appears ranged against the move to lower the groom’s age.

Doctors pointed out that there was a slight difference in the age of biological maturity of girls and boys. While girls become capable of reproduction around the age of 12, boys do so only when they are about 14 or 15, said Ashwini Bhalerao Gandhi.

“We should remember that there is a preference in India among boys and boys’ families for younger women,” said Gandhi, the chairman of the adolescent health committee of the Federation of Obstetricians and Gynaecological Societies of India.

“So there is a danger that 18-year-old boys are likely to wish for even younger wives. Girls below 18 will be under pressure to get married.”

Others said boys who had just passed out of school were not “ready” for marriage.

“Emotionally and financially, boys of 18 just aren’t ready to marry,” said Krishnendu Gupta, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the Vivekananda Institute of Medical Sciences, Calcutta.

In rural India, he said, children were still being married off, and any move to lower the age could make people think what has been going on was right.

The panel has also suggested that the age of consent for sexual intercourse — whether a woman is married or not — be made 16.

If accepted, the proposal would do away with the contradiction now that allows a person to cohabit with a 15-year-old if she is his wife, though under laws that deal with rape a man cannot have intercourse with a girl till she completes 16.

Under current laws, marriages below 11 are treated as void marriages.

Another suggestion is that marriages conducted between 16 and 18 be made voidable, that is if the minimum age for marriage can’t be fixed at 18.

This would leave open the option of getting the marriage annulled in a court before the parties turn 18 if they haven’t lived together.

As for marriages below 16, the commission has suggested that they should be treated as void or illegal, though children of all such marriages have been protected.

The panel said it took into account issues like child abuse and domestic violence.

“Child marriage stunts the growth and development of the girl child who is more vulnerable to domestic violence and sexual abuse,” it said.

In another report, the panel suggested that the father of a male Hindu be included in the list of Class I heirs who stand to inherit property in the absence of a will. The mother is now included in the list, but not the father.

In the interest of gender parity, the panel has suggested including the son of the daughter’s son and the son of the son’s daughter in the list.

Stepmothers should also be treated on a par with brothers and sisters as Class II heirs, the panel said.