Child Marriage Is Valid If The Minor Doesn't Call It Void At The Age Of 18, Says Court

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that the marriage of a minor will be deemed as valid if the person who was underage at the time does not call it void on attaining the age of majority.

The court ruling came in an appeal filed by a couple from Ludhiana against the Family Court order that refused to grant them separation.

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The couple had moved a petition for divorce by mutual consent in the Ludhiana Family Court which turned down the plea saying that the wife was a minor at the time of the marriage, which makes it invalid, and thus divorce cannot be granted.

The girl was 17 years and 6 months old when she got married to a 23-year-old.

But the Punjab and Haryana High Court held that since she did not make any attempts to declare the marriage void when she turned 18, it should be considered as legal.

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"Since the respondent wife was 17 years, 6 months and 8 days old at the time of marriage, and for all intents and purposes no petition was filed for declaration of her marriage as void by the wife, the petition for divorce under Section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, should have been allowed," the high court said.

The high court observed that the family court had wrongly dismissed the petition by referring to the Madras HC judgment about both parties being required to get their marriage nullified as per Section 13(2)(iv) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and granted them separation.

In October 2011, the Madras High Court had ruled that the marriage of a person with a girl whose age is below 18 is voidable. It will subsist until it is annulled by a court under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act.

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Though child marriages are illegal in India, it is still rampant in many parts of the country.

Recently the Rajasthan Government had passed a bill to allow the registration of child marriages.

The?Rajasthan Compulsory Registration of Marriages?(Amendment) Bill, 2021 bill has a provision that requires child marriages to be registered within 30 days.