Women’s Rights and Child Marriage Reform in India, The Sarda Act, 1929

India Prohibiting Child Marriage

Pamphlets

Government of India, An Act to Restrain the Solemnisation of Child Marriages, 1929, documents the legal system created to restrict child marriage in British India and supports research into women’s rights, colonial law, childhood, and social reform in South Asia. The Act, commonly known as the Sarda Act after reformer Har Bilas Sarda, reveals how legislation sought to regulate marriage age through statutory definitions, penalties, and enforcement provisions. It provides primary-source evidence for the study of Indian feminist legal history, colonial governance, and campaigns against patriarchal marriage customs.

Government of India. An Act to Restrain the Solemnisation of Child Marriages. Calcutta: Government of India Central Publication Branch, 1929. First edition. Official pamphlet printing of Act No. XIX of 1929, passed by the Indian Legislature and assented to by the Governor General on October 1, 1929. The Act defines “child,” “child marriage,” “contracting party,” and “minor,” sets age thresholds for boys under eighteen and girls under fourteen, and establishes penalties for adult men contracting child marriages as well as for those who solemnize, arrange, or permit such ceremonies. Its jurisdiction extends across British India, including British Baluchistan and the Santhal Parganas, with enforcement beginning April 1, 1930. The printed price of “1 anna or 1½d” indicates official distribution for public and administrative use.

The pamphlet documents a legal enforcement system for marriage reform through statutory age limits, criminal penalties, and responsibility assigned to adult men, parents, priests, and other facilitators, demonstrating the process by which colonial law entered debates over gender, childhood, and personal status. The timing is significant because Indian social reformers and women’s rights advocates used the late colonial legal arena to challenge early marriage and forced domestic subordination. Minor edge creasing; overall very good condition. A concise official printing of a foundational statute in South Asian women’s rights law and the legal history of childhood protection.

Item #21967

Price: $450.00