BJP leader files petition in SC seeking transfer of cases regarding Age of Marriage

A plea has been filed by Advocate & Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, before the Apex Court seeking its direction to transfer all pending petitions, with respect to those cases involving uniform minimum age of marriage for men & women, before various state HC's to the Supreme Court.

The petitioner, Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, had filed the petition before the Supreme Court through his counsel & also Advocate on Record (AOR) Ashwani Kumar Dubey, seeking uniform minimum age of marriage for men & women.

The petition said that in order to avoid the multiplicity of litigations & conflicting views on the interpretation of Articles 14, 15, & 21 of the Indian Constitution, the Supreme Court should transfer all Public Interest Litigation's pending before the Delhi, Rajasthan & other HC's to itself.

The Supreme Court should also consider the fact & the judgments on gender justice & gender equality in the case, the petition stated.

The petitioner's counsel, Ashwani Dubey, in his plea, moved in the Top Court challenged the blatant ongoing discrimination against women, saying that it is discriminatory.

"The minimum age of marriage for men & women should be decided by the Court," lawyer, Dubey, said in his plea for his client, Upadhayay.

While men are permitted to get married at the age of 21, women are married, when they are just eighteen. The distinction is based on patriarchal stereotypes, & has no scientific backing, perpetrates inequality against women, & goes completely against the global trends, the petition claimed.

Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay has also in his plea pleaded to the Supreme Court to direct the Union of India (UOI) to take appropriate steps to remove the anomalies in the minimum age of marriage of men & women & make it 'gender-neutral.'

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