New Delhi, Sep 21 (IANS) Girls under the age of 18 who are married off without their consent can declare the marriage void under a new law approved by the Indian cabinet Thursday.

"If a girl below the age of 18 has been married off without her consent, she will, for the first time, have the choice to declare her marriage void under the provisions of the Child Marriage Bill, 2006," Indian government spokesperson Deepak Sandhu told reporters after a cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The bill will repeal the Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929.

"This decision will prevent and control the deeprooted social evil of child marriage prevalent in the country," Sandhu pointed out.

The bill provides for rigorous imprisonment of a male adult marrying a child.

It also gives the girl child "the option of choosing to leave a marriage without being treated as a divorcee in the eyes of the law", Sandhu said.

At the same time, the husband will be bound to pay maintenance to his former wife and children, she added.

The law as it exists only restrains and does not ban child marriages. Because of this lacuna, officials say, some 35 percent of women in India are married between 15 and 18 years of age.