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Safety and the law

Women's safety at work and in public, and the laws and complaint bodies meant to secure it.

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Polygamy and personal law: the challenge before the Supreme Court

BriefPrelims and Mains31 Aug 2026

Bigamy is an offence under Section 82 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for anyone whose personal law bars a second marriage; the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 permits a Muslim man up to four wives, so the offence does not reach him.

On 31 July 2026 a bench led by the Chief Justice of India issued notice to the Union on a petition by Zakia Soman and others asking that Section 82 apply uniformly, that Muslim marriages and divorces be registered compulsorily, that first wives get fast maintenance and a right to the matrimonial home, and that the Law Commission or the Union draft a code.
The petition cites Uttarakhand's Uniform Civil Code, in force since 2025, as proof that a common law is workable; Assam tabled its own Uniform Civil Code Bill in May 2026, which bars polygamy, registers live in relationships and exempts Scheduled Tribes.
The constitutional question is old: whether a personal law is "law" under Article 13, and whether a practice protected under Article 25 can be tested against Articles 14 and 21, as Shayara Bano (2017) did for instant triple talaq.

Exam lens: Section 82 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (the old Section 494 IPC); the Shariat Application Act, 1937; Article 44 and the Uniform Civil Code; Uttarakhand's code of 2025; Shayara Bano v. Union of India (2017).

Sources

Outlook India, 31 July 2026
News Arena India, 25 May 2026

Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.

Uniform legal marriage age: 21 for all, or 18?

StandardPrelims and Mains30 Jun 2026

What it is

The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 sets the minimum age of marriage at 18 for women and 21 for men. A marriage below these ages is voidable at the option of the party who was a child, and solemnising one is an offence.
The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021 proposed to raise the age for women to 21, to make the Act override every personal law on the point, and to let a person seek annulment until the age of 23. It was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 21 December 2021, and it lapsed with the dissolution of the 17th Lok Sabha in 2024.
With the Union Bill gone, the question has moved to the States. Himachal Pradesh passed its own amendment raising women's age to 21 on 27 August 2024; the uniform civil codes of Uttarakhand (2024), Gujarat and Assam keep the 2006 ages of 21 and 18.

What happened

On 27 May 2026 the Assam Assembly passed a Uniform Civil Code Bill: it sets the marriage age at 21 for men and 18 for women, prohibits polygamy, requires a marriage to be registered within 60 days and a live in relationship within 30 days, with fines of up to ₹10,000.
Gujarat's Uniform Civil Code, passed on 24 March 2026, takes the same ages, with monogamy, registration within 60 days and a statement for a live in relationship within 30 days, and parents informed when a partner is under 21; Scheduled Tribes are exempt. It received assent on 17 September 2026 and is not yet in force.
In June Madhya Pradesh began consultations on a code of its own through a committee headed by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, who also drafted Uttarakhand's, as cited in our June article.

Law	Women	Men	Status
Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006	18	21	In force across India
Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021	21	21	Lapsed in 2024
Himachal Pradesh amendment, 2024	21	21	Passed 27 August 2024
Uttarakhand Uniform Civil Code, 2024	18	21	In force since 2025
Gujarat Uniform Civil Code, 2026	18	21	Assent 17 September 2026; not yet in force
Assam Uniform Civil Code Bill, 2026	18	21	Passed 27 May 2026

Why it matters

The case for 21: equality between the sexes in the law itself; more years of schooling and work before marriage; later first births, with lower risks for mother and child. In the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), 23 per cent of women aged 20 to 24 had married before 18.
The case against: 18 is the age of majority under the Indian Majority Act, 1875, and the age at which a person can vote and contract; raising it criminalises the choices of adults; the right to marry has been read into Article 21. The Law Commission recommended 18 for both in 2008, equality by lowering men's age.
The enforcement gap: only 785 cases were registered under the 2006 Act in 2020, which suggests that the problem is not the number in the law but the lack of its use, and a higher age could push more marriages out of the record.
The federal turn: marriage is in the Concurrent List, so each State that writes its own code or amendment sets its own rule, and Article 44's goal of a uniform civil code is being met State by State rather than nationally.

Schemes to know

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (2015, Ministry of Women and Child Development; part of Sambal under Mission Shakti)

Aims to improve the child sex ratio and keep girls in school.

Mission Shakti (in force from 1 April 2022, Ministry of Women and Child Development)

Two sub schemes, Sambal for safety and Samarthya for empowerment; One Stop Centres and the Women Helpline sit in Sambal.

Exam lens

Prelims: Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 (18 and 21); the 2021 Bill (21 for both, override of personal laws, annulment to 23) and its lapse; Himachal Pradesh's 2024 amendment; Article 44; marriage in the Concurrent List.
Mains: "Equal in law, unequal in life." Examine whether raising women's marriage age to 21 is the right instrument against child marriage.

Connects to

Women and Men in India 2025 (Social Issues, June): the schooling and work the debate turns on.
India's declining fertility (Social Issues, June): later marriage and later first births.

Sources

PRS Legislative Research
Bar and Bench, 27 August 2024
Nagaland Tribune, 27 May 2026
beatsinbrief, September 2026
The Hindu, 1 June 2026

Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.

SHe-Box 2.0: one window for workplace harassment complaints

BriefPrelims17 Jun 2026

On 17 June 2026 the Ministry of Women and Child Development launched SHe-Box 2.0, the second version of the Sexual Harassment electronic Box, its online portal for complaints of sexual harassment at the workplace.
It is a single window for women in the organised and the unorganised sector, in government and in private employment: a complaint filed on the portal goes to the right committee, and its progress can be tracked online.
The new version links State and district nodal officers, keeps a repository of the Internal Committees set up by employers, brings the district Local Committees onto the same platform, and works in 22 languages; it is run under Mission Shakti.
The first SHe-Box portal, in its present centralised form, was launched on 29 August 2024.
The law behind it is the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013: every employer with ten or more employees must set up an Internal Committee; a district Local Committee hears complaints from smaller establishments, from domestic workers and against the employer; an inquiry is to be completed within 90 days.

Exam lens: SHe-Box run by the Ministry of Women and Child Development; the 2013 Act; Internal Committee for ten or more employees, Local Committee in every district; 90 day inquiry.

Sources

SCC Online, 18 June 2026
News On AIR, 17 June 2026

Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.

Also filed elsewhere

Crime in India 2024: cybercrime up, conventional crime down · on Crime data and trends
Crime in India is the annual compilation of crime registered by the police, published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Judicial language in sexual offence cases · on Judicial review and the reach of the courts
Exam lens: judicial sensitivity as part of the right to a fair trial and dignity under Article 21; the National Judicial Academy at Bhopal; the Court's power to act suo motu under Article 32.
The PCPNDT Act and the child sex ratio: no room for errors in Form F · on Drugs, diagnostics and medical technology
The Pre Conception and Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994, amended in 2002 and 2013, prohibits sex selection before or after conception.
Section 498A and live in relationships · on Equality and reservation
Exam lens: Section 498A IPC is Section 85 BNS; a relationship in the nature of marriage is already recognised under the 2005 Act; the equality reasoning under Article 14.
Sexual harassment complaints by women lawyers · on Equality and reservation
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 protects women through internal complaints committees set up by employers.