The Supreme Court recently declined to entertain a plea seeking a uniform minimum age of 21 years for marriage for both men and women.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala stated that the matter falls under the domain of the legislature and it will amount to direct Parliament to make a law to fix the age, hence it will not deal with the issue.
The petition, filed by one Shahida Quraishi, sought to enhance the legal age of marriage for women to 21 at par with men.
During the hearing, the bench observed that it had dismissed a similar plea in February.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appeared for the Centre, objecting to the plea said that deciding on the plea will be similar to legislating as this is in the domain of the legislature.
While dismissing that plea the apex court stated that it had dismissed a similar plea and thus it will not entertain this petition also. The court added that “The challenge in these proceedings is to the personal laws on the marriage age of men and women. We have decided a similar case on February 20, 2023… and thus plea stands dismissed.”
