ANI
31 Jan 2023, 20:18 GMT+10
New Delhi [India], January 31 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Tuesday informed the petitioner that on January 13, 2023, the Supreme Court allowed transferring the main proceedings pertaining to uniformity in the minimum age of marriage for men and women in diverse legislations.
The bench of Justice Satish Chander Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad after noted the submissions, directed its registry department to transfer the case related documents immediately to the Supreme Court.
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday will hear the public interest litigation (PIL) seeking to equalise of the legal age of marriage for men and women saying the limit of 18 years for a woman, while it is 21 for a man, amounts to discrimination.
The plea before the Delhi High Court earlier stated that at present, while men in India are permitted to get married at the age of 21, women are allowed to get married when they are 18. It is mentioned that more than 125 countries in the world have a uniform age of marriage.
The litigant / Advocate Ashwini Kunar Upadhyay said the plea is filed in the public interest under Article 226 and it challenges a blatant and ongoing form of discrimination against women.
"The discriminatory 'minimum age' limit for marriage for men and women is based in patriarchal stereotypes, has no scientific backing, perpetrates de jure and de facto inequality against women, and goes completely against the global trends," the plea said. As per the petition, some of the statutory provisions, which are responsible for discriminatory 'minimum age' limit for marriage include -- Section 60(1) of the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872; Section 3(1)(c) of the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936; Section 4(c) of the Special Marriage Act, 1954; Section 5(iii) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and Section 2(a) of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.
The plea stated that the differential bar discriminates against women and contravenes with the fundamental principles of gender equality, gender justice and dignity of women and breaches Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution. The petitioner in his petition further stressed that women have a fundamental right to be free to pursue studies or occupations after finishing school at the age of 18.
"It is a social reality that women are expected (and often also pressurised) to beget children immediately after marriage and also forced to take up household chores in accordance with their stereotypical roles in the family. This harms their educational as well as economic pursuits and often impinges on their reproductive autonomy as well," the plea said.
It added that a higher minimum age will ensure "more autonomy to women in every sense". (ANI)
Get a daily dose of Kolkata Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Kolkata Sun.
More InformationROLLING FORK, Mississippi: A powerful tornado has struck Mississippi, killing at least 25 people, injuring dozens, flattening entire blocks and ...
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras: In what could signal the end of his country's decades-long relations with Taiwan, Honduran foreign minister Eduardo Enrique ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: A new US Congressional committee focusing on China held its second hearing on the alleged abuses of the ...
SAN FRANCISCO, California: A new round of extreme winter weather that hit California, also drifted into neighboring Southwest states, with ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: After several high-profile near collision incidents, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a safety alerts to ...
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Two Cambodian opposition figures--- Yim Sinorn and Hun Kosal--- have been charged under the country's rarely used ...
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 28 (ANI): A day after former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray cautioned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi against ...
Kathmandu [Nepal], March 28 (ANI): With Ram Chandra Paudel's election to the post of Nepal's President and the associated change ...
New Delhi [India], March 28 (ANI): The civil aviation ministry is ready to formulate a policy framework for the air ...
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], March 28 (ANI): President Droupadi Murmu, on her maiden visit to West Bengal on Monday said ...
New Delhi [India], March 28 (ANI): Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia virtually inaugurated a direct flight between Amritsar ...
Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], March 28 (ANI): Odisha will have about 20 lakh metric tonnes of surplus rice after meeting all ...