In a controversial development, the Supreme Court on August 19, dismissed a petition filed by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), which had challenged a 2022 Punjab and Haryana High Court judgment permitting the marriage of a Muslim girl after attaining puberty under Sharia law. The ruling has raised serious questions on whether the apex court is indirectly enforcing religious personal law over statutory child protection laws in India.
A bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice R. Mahadevan rejected the plea, remarking that the NCPCR was “a stranger to the litigation” and had no locus standi to contest the High Court’s decision.
The bench went so far as to observe, “NCPCR has no locus to challenge such an order… If two minor children are protected by the High Court, how can NCPCR challenge such an order? It is strange that the NCPCR, which is for protecting the children, has challenged such an order.”
The statement shocked many, given that NCPCR’s very mandate is to protect minors from exploitation and enforce the statutory safeguards provided under Indian law.
NCPCR’s counsel had argued that the case involved a crucial question of law, whether a girl below 18 could be considered legally competent to marry solely on the basis of personal law. However, the bench was categorical in its dismissal, stating, “No question of law arises, you challenge in an appropriate case.”
The NCPCR had approached the Supreme Court arguing that the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act override personal laws, making any marriage below 18 invalid. The Commission stressed that allowing marriages of girls aged 14, 15, or 16 under Muslim personal law was in violation of statutory protections for children.
It pointed out that under PCMA, the minimum marriage age is fixed at 18 for women and 21 for men, irrespective of religion. Similarly, POCSO does not recognise consent by anyone under 18 in matters of sexual relations, thereby criminalising child marriages.
However, the Punjab & Haryana High Court in 2022 had cited provisions of Muslim personal law, which recognises marriage after puberty, presumed to be around 15 years of age. On that basis, the High Court had granted protection to a 16-year-old Muslim girl and her husband from threats by their families.
NCPCR had consistently maintained that the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act sets the minimum age of marriage at 18 for women and 21 for men, without any exceptions. Similarly, POCSO criminalises all sexual activity with anyone below 18, rejecting any notion of “consent” by a minor.
Yet, in 2022, the Punjab and Haryana High Court invoked Muslim personal law, which presumes puberty at 15, to rule that a minor Muslim girl could contract a valid marriage. Instead of striking down this dangerous precedent, the Supreme Court has now shut the door on NCPCR’s attempt to bring uniformity in protecting children from early marriages.
Earlier, the National Commission for Women (NCW) had also sought parity in the legal marriage age across all communities, calling the Muslim personal law exception “arbitrary, irrational, and violative of penal provisions.” Even a different bench of the Supreme Court had once clarified that the Punjab & Haryana High Court order should not be treated as a precedent.
However, the present ruling has effectively nullified such concerns, pushing the debate back to square one.
The dismissal of NCPCR’s plea has triggered outrage among child rights activists, who see it as a direct blow to India’s secular framework. The question that now looms large is whether the apex court, by refusing to intervene, has allowed Sharia-based exceptions to trump the law of the land.
For many, the Supreme Court’s refusal to even examine the legality of child marriages under Muslim personal law signals a worrying trend, where personal law is shielded at the cost of statutory protections meant to safeguard children.
With the court’s decision, the fundamental conflict between personal laws and child protection statutes remains unresolved, leaving vulnerable minors, especially Muslim girls, at risk of being pushed into marriages that Indian law otherwise deems illegal.
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