UPSC Civil Services 2020 Prelims General Studies Paper I

Explanation

The Rakhmabai case of 1884 revolves around the age of consent and restitution of conjugal rights. Rukhmabai Raut was one of the first women doctors to practice medicine in British India and she staunchly opposed the child marriage.

She was India’s first qualified physician and was the major cause behind the enactment of Age of Consent Act in 1891. She was married off at the age of 11 to Dadaji Bhikaji who was aged 19. She, however, continued to stay at the house of her widowed mother.

She was supported by her stepfather, when she refused to stay with Bhikaji and his family at his house. This led to the Dadaji Bhikaji vs Rukhmabai case, 1885. While Bhikaji asked for “restitution of conjugal rights”, Justice Robert Hill Pinhey made note that in this case, Raut was a young woman and was married off in “helpless infancy” and hence cannot be forced.