Uttarakhand High Court seeks Center, State's reply on PIL questioning 'marriage of minor girls' allowed under Muslim law

The Uttarakhand High Court has asked the Center as well as State Government to file their respective reply on a Public Interest Litigation seeking to declare the "marriage of minor girls allowed by Muslim personal law as illegal".

The bench of Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Ramesh Chandra Khulbe further directed both the Governments to indicate their respective stand with regard to the prohibition of child marriage as well.

Court noted that through the PIL, the petitioner, the Youth Bar Association of India, raised an important question concerning the society at large and argued that there should be uniform law with regard to the age of marriage of the girls, irrespective of their religious beliefs.

It is petitioner's contention that "child marriages lead to girls dropping out of school and getting pregnant at a young age, which is detrimental to society's health and violates several laws, including Right to Education and Pocso, so it should be declared illegal across religions".

Before the court, it was argued by the petitioner's counsel that permitting marriage of girls below the age of maturity leads to their exploitation.

He submitted that the Parliament has enacted the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, the purpose of which is to provide for the prohibition of solemnization of child marriages and it applies to the whole of India & to all citizens of India without and beyond India.

He further argued that a child has been defined to mean a person, who, if a male has not completed twenty-one years of age, and if a female, who has not completed eighteen years of age and child marriage is defined as a marriage to which either of the contracting parties is a child.

He contended that though in the existing law punishment is prescribed for persons involved in the conduct of child marriage, there are no specific provisions prohibiting child marriages.

Moreover, he apprised the court that the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021 has been prepared by the legislative, however, it is yet to be passed.

It is to be noted that this Amendment Bill has been prepared with the purpose to amend the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, to reinforce its application overriding all other existing laws, including any custom, usage or practice governing the parties in relation to marriage.

The Bill also proposes to bring women at par with men in terms of marriageable age and to prohibit child marriage irrespective of any law, custom, usage or practice governing the parties.

The matter will be next heard on October 11, 2022.

Case Title: Youth Bar Association of India v. Union of India and Others

[Inputs: Times of India]