The cabinet has approved the final drafts of the Child Marriage Restraint Act 2014, a law intended to choke off the high rate of child marriages in Bangladesh, in principle.
The cabinet passed the final draft in its regular meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan confirmed the news to the Dhaka Tribune on Monday afternoon.
He said: “The draft of the Child Marriage Restraint Act has been finalised with the provision of a maximum two-year jail sentence and Tk50,000 fine for violation of the law.”
According to the proposed law, anyone under 18 would be considered as child and a male person under 21 or a female person under 18 will be considered as minor.
It stipulates that the marriage with a male under 21 or a female under 18 or minor male or female with adult male or female will be considered as child marriage.
The offence also carries a minimum sentence of six months with Tk10,000 fine or both for violation of the law.
Earlier, the Women and Children Affairs Ministry has prepared the draft after consulting with all stakeholders concerned.
The Child Marriage Restraint Act 2014, drawn up by the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, comes after a Unicef report found that 74% of Bangladeshi girls under 18 years and an alarming 39% of girls under 15 years had been married off.
Bangladesh has one of the highest number of under-15 child marriages in the world, according to the report published by Unicef in July this year.