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Supreme Court to decide on legal marital age for Muslim girls: What do existing marriage laws say?
The Supreme Court will soon take the decision regarding the minimum marital age for Muslim women to get married, as per the law.
Updated : Jan 15, 2023, 11:42 AM IST | Edited by : Vaishnawi Sinha
 "Supreme Court to decide on legal marital age for Muslim girls: What do existing marriage laws say?")
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The Supreme Court is set to decide on what will be the legal age of marriage for Muslim females in the country, soon after the Punjab and Haryana High Courts held up the judgment that Muslim girls will be allowed to get married after they hit puberty, at the age of 15.
In view of the backlash against the recent judgment of the Punjab and Haryana courts, the Supreme Court restrained all courts in the country from treating the judgment as a precedent for any future decisions or calls in this regard.
A bench of the apex court comprising Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and justice PS Narasimha admitted the appeal by National Commission for Protection for Child Rights (NCPCR) and said, “Pending further orders, the September 30 judgment of the high court shall not be relied on as a precedent in any other case.”
Further, the Supreme Court itself will be taking a call regarding the proposal of a Uniform Marital Age for all men and women in India, and whether Muslim girls can get married while still being minors.
What does Muslim law say about marital age of girls?
The law in India states that minors cannot get married and that the legal age for marriage for men is 21 while for women it's 18. However, this is only applicable to the Hindu population of the country, according to the Hindu Marriages Act.
The same laws don’t apply to Muslim women, and they have to comply with the Muslim laws for marriage. The legal age of marriage has not been specified for Muslim women as per the law.
The laws specified for Muslim marriages in India states that a girl can get married after she hits puberty, which is assumed to be at the age of 15 for most girls. This means that as per Muslim law, minor girls can get married to adult men.
While arguing in the Supreme Court, Solicitor general Tushar Mehta said that the legal age of Muslim females eligible for marriage should be raised since the existing laws are in violation of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
