Notice sent to Centre on plea to transfer PILs on uniform marriage age to SC

The petitioners asked SC to transfer to itself pending petitions in Delhi and Rajasthan High Courts to avoid multiplicity of litigations

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Centre on a plea to transfer all PILs seeking uniform age of marriage for men and women pending in different High Courts, to the top court.

A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian sought a response from the Union government within four weeks on the petition filed by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay.

The petitioners, represented by senior advocates Geeta Luthra and Priya Hingorani, asked the court to transfer to itself pending petitions in Delhi and Rajasthan High Courts in order to avoid multiplicity of the litigations and conflicting views. They asked the court to transfer the pending matters and decide on them collectively as the matter related to gender justice and equality.

At present, men are permitted to get married at the age of 21 and women at the age of 18. "This distinction is based on patriarchal stereotypes and has got no scientific backing. This perpetrates de jure and de facto inequality against women and goes completely against the global trends," his plea stated.

The petitioner said 125 countries have a uniform age of marriage for men and women. In India too, the minimum age of men and women should be fixed as 21 years.