As per the laws in India, there is a minimum age set for men and women to marry. Where for men it is 21, for women it is just 18. Recently, the Supreme Court bench heard a petition that sought the minimum age for marriage to be the same. However, the bench declined this plea on the grounds that this decision does not come under its sole jurisdiction. The plea was heard on February 20, Monday.
The Supreme Court bench comprised of Justices PS Narasimha, and JB Pardiwala, and headed by Chief Justice DY Chadrachud heard the plea of uniform age for marriage plea filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay. The petitioner filed the plea to have the same legal marriage age for men and women, and it justified this by mentioning that the difference in age for marriage between the gender was against the right to gender equality, and is also a result of the strong patriarchal mindset in the country. The petitioner also mentioned that this law makes women inferior and does not go with the idea of women’s empowerment.
However, when turning down the plea, the Supreme Court said that there are certain limitations that the judiciary has to abide by too. The Supreme Court also rejected the plea on reasons that the courts do not have the power to make a law or bill, and that decision solely depends on the Parliament. As per the news, the bench also clarified that it does not hold the authority to issue a mandamus, or orders to the Parliament and demand any kind of law to be enforced. The Supreme Court asked the Petitioner to take other approaches for the plea.
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A uniform marriage age for men and women does stand rightly with gender equality. A bill was also passed in Parliament to increase the minimum age for women to par with men. So it will be in the interest of women if in future the law is changed and the same marriage age is set for both genders.