Give pre-adult girls a chance

“What are you going to do with the people who find themselves in that difficulty?” he asked on Friday while contributing to debate on the Miscellaneous Provisions (Marriages) Bill in the Lower House.

“Are you going to jail them? Society must accommodate. Society also has to act with compassion. As adults, parents and leaders in society, we have an obligation to groom people with the right values so that they can make the right choices and not make those mistakes.” Rambachan argued that human beings were not infallible.

“If they do make mistakes, then we must have the space where we can help them rise again. I think this is what the Hindu Women’s Organisation and the other groups are trying to say to this country and we cannot just ignore them,” he said.

“What do you do with a young woman at 14 years or 16 years, who gets pregnant as a result of a relationship with a person under the age of 18 and it is not rape? “Are we in denial that there may be dozens, maybe hundreds of young people in this position. We cannot ignore the problem and we have to find a way to deal with it.” Rambachan lamented that in the run up to the debate, the focus appeared to be solely on child brides in the Hindu and Muslim faiths.

In this regard, he took issue with National Calypso Monarch Dr Hollis Liverpool’s (Chalkdust’s) winning 2017 composition, Arithmetic, which examined the child marriage issue.

“In my humble view, the very venerable calypsonian, Chalkdust made it out to be in the minds of many, many people in this country, Hindus and non-Hindus alike - that Hindus are guilty of some crime and he viciously attacked not only Sat Maharaj but in my view, Hindus in general, without looking carefully at the position being articulated by Hindus who are in support of the age 18 but who want a window because there is none in this world who are infallible,” he said.

“There are none in this world who don’t make errors and the society must always make space and the society must always prepare for those who fall through the cracks so, they are not allowed to fall deeper, and for them the laws must have that level of protection for those who are going to make errors.” The Opposition MP said the fact that so many organisations have called for the legislation to be revisited reflected an evolution in the country’s political maturity.

“That was demonstrated yesterday ( Thursday) in this country where the democracy matured in a way by the position that people took with respect to people who hold senior positions in this country,” Rambachan said in an allusion to the overwhelming no-confidence vote against Chief Justice Ivor Archie and the Judicial and Legal Services Commission over the Marcia Ayers-Caesar d?b?cle at the Hall of Justice, Portof- Spain..

“That was a good thing and, therefore, people are evolving in the society and people are running faster than the leaders and the leaders must now stop listen and catch up with where they are.” Rambachan, in his contribution, also took Attorney General Faris Al Rawi to task for removing the initial three-majority criteria for passage of the legislation and replacing it with a simple majority.

“I do not believe that the Attorney General is in a position to make the kind of determination.

You say you are asking for a simple majority. I think that is very dangerous.”