Supreme Court Issues Notice On Pleas By NCPCR & NCW Challenging HC's Decision Permitting Marriage Of Minor Muslim Girl
|The Supreme Court today issued notice on the pleas by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and the National Commission for Women (NCW) challenging a decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that a Muslim girl can marry at the age of 16 as per the Mohammedan Law.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala was informed by Counsel that the girl was aged 16 years. The Court said that it will hear the case in the month of March on a non-miscellaneous day.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the Court that both the NCPCR and the National Women's Commission have challenged the order.
Earlier, the Supreme Court declined to stay the decision rendered by the Punjab & Haryana High Court which has held that a Muslim girl can marry a person of her choice on attaining puberty and such marriage shall not be void on the ground that it contravenes the provisions of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006. However, the Apex Court clarified that the impugned decision of the High Court should not be relied upon as a precedent in any other case.
The Court had sought the assistance of Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao who has been appointed as amicus curiae in similar pleas pending before the Court.
The single-judge bench of the High Court on June 13 had passed the order on a plea by a Pathankot-based Muslim couple who had approached the court for protection.
The Delhi High Court had recently held that the age of puberty as per Muslim law is not applicable to the POCSO Act while refusing to quash an FIR for the rape of a 16-year-old.
The Uttarakhand High Court had recently sought a reply from the state and the central governments on a PIL praying that marriages of girls under 18 years of age, permitted under the Muslim law, must be declared illegal.
Cause Title -Cause Title- National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) versus Javed