The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a notice to the Karnataka government and the Centre, asking them to respond to a 26 year-old woman’s plea to make prior consent of the prospective spouses mandatory under the Hindu Marriage Act, ANI reported.
The court also directed the police to provide protection to the woman, the daughter of a politician in Karnataka, who claimed that her parents had forcibly married her. The marriage reportedly took place a fortnight ago.
The woman’s counsel, Indira Jaising, argued that the Hindu Marriage Act does not say anything about consent and urged the court to make consent mandatory under the law. But a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra referred to the judgement in the Hadiya case, and said that the court cannot nullify the marriage, Live Law reported.
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