The Sarda Act Prohibiting Child Marriage in India, Original First Printing 1929

India

Pamphlets

[Women's Rights] Original printing of the Sarda Act, prohibiting child marriage in India, 1929. Act No. XIX of 1929. An Act to Restrain the Solemnisation of Child Marriages. Calcutta: Government of India Central Publication Branch, 1929. First edition. Scarce. A landmark legal intervention in the regulation of child marriage in British India, this pamphlet prints the full text of the Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929—commonly known as the Sarda Act—passed by the Indian Legislature and receiving the assent of the Governor General on October 1, 1929. The Act criminalized the solemnization of marriages involving boys under 18 and girls under 14 (later amended to 18 and 15, respectively), and imposed penalties on adult men who contracted child marriages, as well as on parents, priests, or other facilitators. Its provisions extended across all of British India, including British Baluchistan and the Santhal Parganas, and came into force on April 1, 1930.

The law was introduced at the urging of Indian social reformers, particularly Har Bilas Sarda, whose campaign aligned with women’s rights advocates challenging patriarchal customs under colonial rule. The legislation explicitly defined a “minor” as anyone under 18 and imposed fines and jail terms for men over 21 who married girls below the legal threshold, as well as for those who conducted or arranged such ceremonies. A radical attempt to legislate personal status and protect young girls from forced early marriage, the Act is recognized as a foundational moment in Indian feminist legal history and a precedent for later reforms. This official government printing, priced at "1 anna or 1½d," reflects the colonial administration’s effort to disseminate the law widely across the provinces. Minor edge creasing. Overall very good condition. An artifact of pivotal reform in the legal history of South Asia and women’s rights, foundational for understanding the colonial and postcolonial trajectories of gender and childhood legislation.

Item #21967

Price: $450.00