Explainer: Why Gujarat govt wants a law for love marriages | India News

Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel has said his government will study the possibility of a system making parental approval mandatory in love marriages if it is constitutionally feasible.

His comments came in response to a demand by certain sections of the Patidar community – a dominant electoral group in the state – that parental consent be made mandatory in love marriages.
‘If constitution supports’

Addressing an event, Patel said that state health minister Rushikesh Patel told him to get a study done into the incidents of girls eloping for marriage so that a system is created where the consent of parents is made mandatory. “If the Constitution supports it, then we will carry out a study regarding this and try to get the best result for this.”
What law says
In India, the legal age for marriage stands at 21 for men and 18 for women. There is no constitutional provision for parental approval as such, even if couples who fulfil the legal age decide to elope.
The Gujarat government in 2021 amended the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act that penalises forcible or fraudulent religious conversion by marriage. In such cases, the state government can interfere even if the legal age criteria is fulfilled. But there is no specific provision for parental approval in this law either.