New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a plea of Delhi BJP lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay for uniform marriage age of men and women.
The law as it currently stands prescribes 18 years and 21 years for women and men respectively as the minimum age of marriage.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala noted that though the petitioner seeks to have 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 was also irked by some statements by Upadhyay when he said that the High Court will then decide the matter.
“We don't want your gratuitous comments”
"We don't want your gratuitous comments on us. We are not here to please you or any section of the polity. Don't you give me gratuitous comments. This is not a political forum. We don't owe you an explanation," the CJI remarked.
In his petition, Upadhyay stated that there are specific religion based legislations which prescribe a certain age for marriage and that it is discriminatory of Article 14 and 21.
Minimum marriage age for both men and women should be fixed at 21
Upadhyay prayed that the minimum marriage age for both men and women should be fixed at 21. The Court, however, said today that the issue fell within the domain of the parliament and it must defer the issue to the ultimate wisdom of the parliament.
"We are not exclusive custodians of the Constitution and parliament can also do that. Parliament can also legislate and decide," the bench remarked.
The court, therefore, refused to entertain the plea.
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