Supreme Court has refused to entertain a plea seeking uniform minimum age of marriage for both men and women

Supreme Court has dismissed the plea seeking a uniform minimum age of 21 years for marriage for both men and women.While saying ‘it will amount to directing Parliament to make a law to fix the age,’ the apex court dismissed the plea. The bench on Monday stated that the matter comes under the domain of the legislature and refused to deal with it. 

SC refused to deal with the issue 

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala said the matter fell under the domain of the legislature and it will not be dealing with the issue. The top court referred to its February 20 order by which it had dismissed another PIL filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay seeking equality in the legal age of marriage for men and women.

The plea, filed by one Shahida Quraishi, had sought to enhance the legal age of marriage for women to 21 at par with men.

Bench dismissed a similar plea in Feb 

During the hearing, the bench observed it had dismissed a similar plea in February. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, objecting to the plea said that deciding the plea will be akin to legislating as this is in the domain of the legislature.

The apex court while dismissing that plea said that it had dismissed a similar plea and thus it will not entertain this petition also. “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,” added the court.