The Delhi High Court has sought Centre's response in plea seeking to declare/ make all Child Marriages, void-ab-initio.
The Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla adjudicating uopn a Miscelleneous Application in an already pending Writ Petition before the High Court, when it issued notices to the Ministry of Law and Justice and the National Commission for Women asking them to answer by 13th September, 2022.
The case pertains to a 16-years-old who was married off to her aunt’s son without free consent. The marriage ceremony was conducted by the parents of the bride and groom after gaining the consent of the Petitioner by deceitful means, which in eyes of law is not a free consent. She has argued that she had “no option to go against her parents and community’s wishes, and despite her request, she was compelled to give her consent for the child marriage ceremony.”
When her alleged husband suddenlt appeared in 2020 to take her home, she escaped and then filed a Civil Writ Petition before the Delhi High Court, seeking declaration of Section 3(1) of Prohibition of Child Marriage Act - which provides child marriage as voidable, as unconstitutional and ultra vires of Article 21 of the Constitution of India as it violates the fundamental rights of minor girl child to live her life with dignity.
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