There has always been a debate whether marriage is a social affair or an individual choice, or both? Various religions also tend to dictate the norms and rules pertaining to marriage. Nowadays, it seems, the state, too, is showing keenness to interfere in this regard. On Saturday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma handed down his diktat saying that “women should give birth between the ages of 22 and 30” because, as he feels, the “god has created our bodies in such a way.” Sarma’s statement, however, is no more than an individual opinion and lacks any concrete reasoning. On the contrary, it entails an indication of moral policing of citizens. To put things in context, Sarma’s statement has come in the background of the Supreme Court hearing a petition filed by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) against an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that allows the marriage of a girl who has attained puberty, under the custom or personal law. The court has agreed to examine whether such a marriage should be allowed, particularly as they are in conflict with general statutory provisions. The scope for public debate in a matter which should purely be of private nature has arisen from numerous discrepancies and ambiguities in India’s legal system. In the first place, there is a glaring contrast between the provisions of religious laws and constitutional laws. The marriage of minors under Muslim personal laws bypasses the provisions of Indian Penal Code and the POCSO Act. Secondly, there have been discrepancies in Indian statutory laws itself. It was as late as in 2017 that the Supreme Court of India categorised sexual intercourse by a man to his wife aged between 15-18 as rape. Earlier, Exception 2 to Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code allowed the husband of a girl child, between 15 and 18 years of age, to have non-consensual sex with her. Furthermore, while the Supreme Court of India has appealed to the Parliament to lower the age of consent under the POCSO Act, the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021, has sought to increase the minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years. To date, discrepancies in the laws relating to marriage and sex have complicated the entire discourse. There is a need to introduce synergy between various statutory and religious laws. The guiding light in this regard should be twofold: the laws around marriage should focus on the best interests of individuals who tie the knot, and their voice must be accorded highest priority in determining what is their interest. Indian society is increasingly getting individual-centric where issues of privacy, freedom, choice etc. have become more important than anything else. Carrying the baggage of the past in dictating women when to marry and whom to marry might be an obsolete act with little relevance. Religious leaders and conservative politicians need to align themselves with the time and tide if they wish to remain relevant in the present age. It is a sad reality that centuries of dictation of marriage rules to men and women by religions and society has taken us nowhere. The health and education of women in India has hit the nadir. According to the National Family Health Survey, nationwide, only 41 per cent of women have received 10 or more years of schooling. NFHS-5 also reported that 59 per cent of Indian girls between the ages 15 to 19 suffer from anemia. It may be noted that at an all-India level, nearly a quarter of women get married at an illegal age and seven per cent bear the child at the same age. This could be attributed as one of the main reasons behind the poor education and health levels of Indian girls and women. For ages, women have paid for patriarchal practices of society and religion. To make things worse, the State, too, has decided to join the party. Such developments are neither in the interest of women nor the society in general. It is time to withdraw the diktats imposed upon women by removing ambiguities and formulating clear-cut legislations around marriage and sex.