NEW DELHI; The fate of some minors’ marriages that had been validated by the Delhi high court for the “couple” that refused to be separated from each other and declined to be lodged in children’s homes is at risk.
A bench of the high court has said that Hindu marriages involving minors should be declared void and expressed disagreement with earlier orders by its various benches that had upheld the legality of such marriages.
“We hesitate to agree with the observation passed by the division bench of this court on account of the fact that although there may be different definitions of the word ‘child’ with regard to the age of the minor in different enactments, the purpose of each enactment has to be seen,” the court said.
In view of the contradictions among judges, the bench headed by justice Vikramajit Sen has referred the matter to the chief justice who will constitute a full bench to hear the matter. The order was the fallout of a petition by the father of a minor girl whom a man took away and married.
The bench said that in such cases, the provisions of Prevention of Child Marriage Act should be given utmost importance. The law says that such marriages are null and void and should invite prosecution.
The Act makes the marriage of a minor girl who has been enticed away null and void. The language of the Act is mandatory in nature and does not admit of any reservation, the bench said.
It also observed that enticing away a minor girl from her lawful guardian to marry her is a criminal offence that can’t be neglected.
The bench said parliament alone could take appropriate measures to remove inadequacies in the law. In this backdrop, HC had ruled that the marriage of a minor girl above 15 years of age was not illegal if it is of her free will and that she cannot be sent to ‘Nari Niketan’ against her will in such cases.
“The marriage was neither void nor illegal on account of the spouse being less than
18 and over 15 years of age,” the court had said, in connection with three different cases where minor girls above 15 had eloped and married men of their choice and the girls’ parents had lodged cases of kidnapping against their sons-in-law.
b_rakesh@dnaindia.net
