Marriage laws in India
The Supreme Court announced that it would examine whether minor girls, as young as 15 years, can marry on the basis of custom or personal law.
- Legal age for marriage in India – 18 years for women and 21 years for men.Marriage below this age is considered to be child marriage, and hence an offence.
- Offence – In 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that sexual intercourse by a man with his wife, who is below 18 years, is rape, reading down Section 375 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code.
- Increasing legal age to 21 – The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021 has sought to amend the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006, to increase the minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years.
- In December 2021, it was referred to a parliamentary standing committee for further deliberations, and it has already got three extensions to submit its report, the last being in October 2022.
- Legal age in different faiths – The minimum age of marriage for a man is 21 years and for a woman is 18 years in the following acts of different faiths,
- The Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872
- Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936
- Special Marriage Act, 1954
- Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
- Under the Muslim personal law in India, persons who have attained puberty are eligible to get married i.e. on attaining the age of 15 years, while they are still minor.
- In December 2022, the National Commission for Women (NCW) filed a petition in the Supreme Court to make the minimum age of marriage for Muslim women on par with persons belonging to other faiths.
- The NCW had raised the question whether personal law could override statutory provisions of the POCSO Act and other laws.