SC Tags Plea Challenging Provisions Prescribing Different Ages For Marriage Tagged With Transfer Plea On Petitions Seeking Uniform Age Of Marriage

A Bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar heard Senior Advocate Sonia Mathur appearing for the Petitioner, and proceeded to direct for the plea to be listed before the appropriate Bench.

However, the Court refused to issue notice on the plea and stated that the same would be considered by the Bench which would hear it.

The instant plea, filed by Shahida Quraishi through Advocate Vandana Sharma Bhandari, challenges Section 5(iii) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, Section 4(c) of the Special Marriage act, 1954, Section 2(a) of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, Section 60(1) of the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872, and Section 3(1)(c) of the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936, which prescribe eighteen years and twenty-one years as the eligible age for marriage for the bride and groom respectively.

The petition submits that different ages perpetuate gender inequality and stereotypes, and also violate various Constitutional rights embedded under Articles 14, 15, and 21. It further goes against India's commitment to the Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) which calls for the abolition of laws that are grounded in the premise that women have a different physical or intellectual rate of growth than men.

The plea has been tagged with another petition filed by Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay seeking transfer of petitions pending before the Rajasthan and Delhi High Court that seek for a uniform age of marriage. It submits that the transfer plea has been filed in order to avoid multiplicity of litigations and conflicting views on interpretation of Articles 14, 15 and 21, and judgements involving justice and equality.

On 2 February 2021, a Bench headed by then Chief Justice of India SA Bobde had issued notice on the petition.