Indians love the
First World, especially the West. We love them so much that we often knowingly
or unknowingly downplay the culture and traditions of our country. The West has
influenced our culture, religion, ethnicity, way of living and even family
planning. Earlier, people's marriage was followed by having kids but now, we
often see the opposite.The
westernization has introduced this trend of having a child before marriage.
In a recent picture of her next album, Neha Kakkar is seen
flaunting her baby belly. It's barely been few months of her marriage and she's
already having a kid! Or is she? Well, that was a publicity stunt she made
(also successfully normalizing an inappropriate decision as this) but this
controversial debate leaves us scratching our heads- what good comes out of
getting pregnant before marriage? Does this reinforce a positive or a negative
change? This is not happening for the first time that some celebrity has
announced something not good for society. Bollywood is also
known for rumors about its members being associated with polygamy, murder
scandals, drug abuse, child trafficking, sex trafficking, shaking hands with the underworld. Although, what's not
a rumor is couples getting pregnant before marriage- right from Kamal Hassan
and Sarika in the 1980s to Celina Jaitley and Peter Haag, Neena Gupta and
Vivian Richards, Mahima Chaudhary and Bobby Mukherjee, Sridevi and Boney
Kapoor, Konkana Sen Sharma and Ranvir Shorey, Anoushka Shankar and Joe Wright, Neha Dhupia and Angad Bedi, Natasha Stankovic and Hardik Pandya. The social responsibility these
people carry is beyond imagination, especially because Indians love their
big-screen "heroes". Quite naturally, we replicate their style, fashion, on-screen attitude, off-screen attitude, etc.
Many follow the West and normalize practices that our culture doesn't
recognize as constructive. Not to mention, though individual view on the
importance of culture and traditions is very subjective and personal, Bollywood
stars getting pregnant before marriage doesn't seem to constructively make a
positive change in society. Hence, now you know what I meant when I said we
have started to follow the West for all the wrong reasons. As much as I am
an advocate of individual liberty and personal choice, I also believe that one
must not act at the cost of others or society as a whole. Being in the
limelight is a double-edged sword. One way you have the potential to make a
significant difference to society (for the better) and the other way you also
get criticized for not using the potential constructively. Many Bollywood
artists use this power to voice the oppressed/ underprivileged (as a stunt or
not is a topic of another day) or to "break the stigma" which they do, for a
better society. Our country is
known for spirituality, ethics, our diverse cultures and hospitality. Today's
liberal society is the by-product of western culture that we have been
following and adopting too rigorously. Nothing is wrong in following the West, it always comes to a personal choice, after all. But, what is concerning is
that we hold more pride in their culture than in ours. I say this without the
context of nationalism or patriotism but plain conscience. As the year's pass, we see more generations of people adopting Hollywood (because that's our medium
of knowing them) for everything that our society holds as unethical. Under the
titles of "breaking stereotypes" or "smashing orthodoxy," we sometimes end up
shaming our own culture. And I hold only public figures responsible for this
shift as they either underestimate the extent to which they can influence the
society or they think they can only maintain a liberal stance if they follow
the West, doesn't matter for good or bad.
In our context, getting pregnant before marriage is not a crime. But it is also not something
constructive for the society, not something which is a step in the right
direction as our nation is known for its culture, heritage and traditions.
Indulging in something that not only sets a wrong example but also threatens
the culture which upholds morality as the highest rank, is extremely
condemnable. Section 16 of the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA), 1955 confers the
status of legitimacy on the children of void and annulled voidable marriages.
Before the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Act, 1976 children of the void marriage were
legitimate only if a decree of nullity was granted in respect of such marriage
under section 11 of the Act. If no decree was obtained the children could not
be legitimatized. After the amendment under sub-section (1) of section 16 the
children of void marriage are legitimate whether a decree of nullity is passed
or not. They are legitimate even when the marriage between the parties is held
to be void otherwise than on a petition under the Act. In respect of the
children of voidable marriages sub-section (2) states that they are legitimate
even on the passing of a decree of nullity as though the marriage was dissolved
by a decree of divorce instead of being annulled.
Interestingly, celebrities don't feel any challenges or hurdle in their life for adopting the
inappropriate trend of getting pregnant before marriage but the normal person
will have to face many challenges in their routine life. Neither do they get
harassed on being called "najayaz aulad" like the common man. To this
day unmarried couples and single parents face problems in renting out any
property for their stay. Even a few schools demand to produce documents related
to parents' marriage. The 2014 judgment by the Hon'ble Supreme Court laid that 'lived
like a husband and wife' for a long period and had children, the judiciary
would presume that the two were married. Upon asking my friend, Dr. Kavita Lalit
Patil, General Practitioner, she said that the abortions in unmarried women
have increased in the recent past. "In my hospital, I can say that out of 10
cases, 4 are unmarried women who come for abortions. There are cases where the
unmarried mother comes several times for abortion. Also, there are few women
who want to keep the child but due to social stigma and non-acceptance in the
society, they abort the child." According to Medical Termination Act, if the
pregnant female is above 18 years of age, the consent of the father is not required
for abortion. What are we headed to?
Our cultures
never force people to act in a certain way. We know how bad it is when Gen Z
takes more pride in not knowing the Indian epics like Mahabharata and Ramayan.
Those are never taught to our kids in schools or homes rigorously. But knowing
them is rather a sign of orthodoxy or old fashion, except they do not know how
vast and intricate scientific backing the Epics have. This behavior should not
get unnoticed but undone. To undo the destructive changes the celebrities
promote, we need to groom our kids in a more diverse way, so that they can
decide for themselves what's good and what's not instead of following the
trend.
