The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay that had sought a uniform age of marriage for men and women, reported Bar and Bench.
The minimum legal age of marriage in the country is 18 years for women and 21 for men.
Upadhyay, in his petition, contended that religion-specific laws in this regard are discriminatory and that they violate the fundamental rights to equality and protection of personal liberty. He asked the top court to direct the Central government to take appropriate steps to make the minimum age of marriage gender and religion-neutral.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala noted that though Upadhyay sought to fix 21 years as the age of marriage for both men and women, the prayer in the plea was for striking down the provision prescribing minimum age of marriage altogether.
The court also said that the power to amend the law lies with Parliament.
“We should not perceive that we are the exclusive custodians of the Constitution,” reported The Hindu. “The Parliament is equally the custodian of the Constitution. Parliament can amend the law to provide uniform marriage age.”
The top court also reprimanded the BJP leader after he commented that it had transferred the case from the Delhi High Court and now had got it dismissed, reported The Hindu.
“We are not here to please you nor are we here to please any sections of the polity,” Chief Justice Chandrachud said. “Please understand that. So don’t give us these gratuitous comments on what you feel about us. This is not a political forum.”
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