The Supreme Court on Wednesday lauded Karnataka for its pioneering act of amending the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) to make child marriage automatically void.

In Karnataka, the husband of a girl child would be liable for punishment for child marriage under the amended PCMA; for penetrative sexual assault or aggravated penetrative sexual assault under the POCSO Act; and if the husband and the girl child are living together in the same or shared household for rape under the IPC.

A Bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta lauded the Karnataka State Legislature for amending the PCMA earlier this year and providing the rest of India the “most obvious and appropriate resolution of the conflict” between the IPC and the various laws regarding child marriage.

The Supreme Court quoted a study, published by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and Young Lives based on the 2011 Census, that over 20% girls in this country are married before attaining the age of 18. More than one out of every five marriages violates the provisions of the PCMA and the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

A report by the World Health Organisation in 2012, the court said, showed that 11% of the births worldwide are amongst adolescents, and they account for 23% of the overall burden of diseases.

“A child bride is more than doubly prone to health problems than a grown-up woman,” the Supreme Court said.