Let all women MPs testify on marriage Bill: Sushmita Dev to panel chief

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 3

Sushmita Dev, the lone woman MP in the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, tasked with reviewing the Bill to raise the legal age of marriage for girls from 18 to 21 years, on Monday wrote to the panel chairman urging him to allow all women MPs to testify before the committee.

Dev, in a letter to BJP’s Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, said, “Under Rules 84 (3) and 275 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha), I wish to propose that any woman member of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha be empowered to testify either in writing or in person before the committee on the issue. The Rajya Sabha has 29 women members and Lok Sabha has 81. I request you to use the powers of your office to open the meetings of the committee on the issue to testimonials from any of the women MPs and allot time accordingly.”

The committee is in the process of examining the Bill introduced in the winter session of Parliament in December. Earlier today, DMK MP M Kanimozhi and Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi also urged Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu to ensure a more women inclusive panel to deliberate on the decision impacting India’s women.