The Allahabad Prime Court docket has held that no non-public legislation, together with Muslim non-public legislation, can violate the ban on kid marriage caused by means of the Prohibition of Kid Marriage Act, 2006 or override the Coverage of Kids from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act).
A Bench of Justices JJ Munir and Achal Sachdev made the statement whilst refusing to quash an FIR in opposition to 19 individuals accused of obstructing police and Kid Line officers who had long gone to forestall the wedding of a 16-year-old Muslim woman.
The Court docket famous that Shariat (the root of Muslim non-public legislation) allowing marriage at puberty, obviously violates the ban on kid marriage and regulations prohibiting sexual sex with minors.“The Shariat Legislation offering for puberty because the competent age underneath the legislation permissible for a woman to marry or be married, runs obviously within the tooth of the PCMA in addition to the POCSO Act,” the Court docket mentioned.
The age of marriage, in our thought to be opinion, for each and every citizen of the rustic, without reference to faith, is that, this is spelt out by means of the Prevention of Kid Marriage Act.The Bench famous that there are conflicting Prime Court docket perspectives at the factor, however expressed settlement with the perspectives of the Kerala Prime Court docket in a 2024 judgment, by which it used to be held that kid marriage is unlawful by means of legislation for all, irrespective of the faith they practice
Within the July 1 ruling, the Court docket additionally seen {that a} comparable factor had previous reached the Preferrred Court docket. Then again, the highest courtroom didn’t give an authoritative ruling on it.The Court docket additionally famous that the Preferrred Court docket had, in 2024, flagged the confusion over whether or not non-public regulations can be triumphant over the Prohibition of Kid Marriage Act.
Whilst the Preferrred Court docket had then referred to a proposed 2021 modification that will have expressly given the PCMA overriding impact over non-public regulations, the Allahabad Prime Court docket famous that the Invoice seems to have lapsed with the dissolution of the seventeenth Lok Sabha.
The Court docket used to be coping with a plea to quash a primary data document (FIR) registered at Kakor police station in Bulandshahr on February 15, 2026. The FIR alleged that police and Kid Line officers had won details about the proposed marriage of a minor woman and went to her area to forestall it.
In line with the prosecution, when the officers attempted to take the lady sooner than the Kid Welfare Committee, the petitioners and a number of other others abused and threatened the police and Kid Line staff. It used to be additionally alleged that they forcibly took the lady clear of the custody of a Kid Line staff member.The petitioners argued that underneath Muslim non-public legislation, a woman who has attained puberty, most often considered 15 years, is competent to marry. They contended that the Prohibition of Kid Marriage Act would now not impact their non-public legislation on marriage.
The Court docket rejected the argument.It mentioned that the age of marriage for each and every citizen, without reference to faith, is the age prescribed underneath the Prohibition of Kid Marriage Act (PCMA). It additionally famous that if the wedding of an individual underneath 18 years is allowed, it will most probably lead to a contravention of the POCSO Act, since sexual family members are ordinarily inseparable from marriage.
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