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Intercultural Human Rights Law Review

First Page

427

Abstract

The doctrine that has become known as Parental Autonomy refers to a belief that parents have a fundamental right to bring up their offspring and to make all sort of decisions concerning the child, free from government intervention, absent a threat to the health and welfare of the offspring. The government has the right to interfere if public health, welfare, safety, and order are jeopardized by parental decisions. The focus of this paper is the issue of parental autonomy in India in the context of arranged marriages, and the role of the state in limiting parental freedom when children are exploited and abused by their own parents or family. The framework of this article is that which is taught in the New Haven School of Jurisprudence; "a heuristic of effective multi-method analysis and development of solutions to pressing problems of society." It is not my intention to indicate that women's lives are the ones solely affected by arranged marriages, but since the majority of victims of abuse perpetuated by this practice are female, the examples and articles presented below address the issue mainly from a female perspective. The first portion of the article touches on the idea of "parental autonomy" and what constitutes a "family" in India. It also explains the different types of arranged marriages and provides the social, religious, and cultural aspects of such issue. The second part includes the various parties that either support or oppose arranged marriages and their respective arguments for or against. The third portion of the article refers to the legal aspect of arranged marriages; specifically, past cases and other legal responses, such as domestic laws and international treaties. The focus of the fourth part is possible future occurrences. And finally, the last part sets forth numerous solutions that might solve various issues that arise from arranged marriages.

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