The verdict reignites debate on child marriage laws, age of consent, and the clash between personal law, POCSO, and the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act
OdishaPlus Bureau
The Supreme Court of India, on August 19, 2025, dismissed a petition by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) challenging a 2022 Punjab and Haryana High Court ruling.
The High Court had granted protection to a 16-year-old Muslim girl who had married a 30-year-old man, Javed, of her own free will.
The High Court’s decision was based on the interpretation of Muslim Personal Law, which considers a girl who has attained puberty, around the age of 15, to be eligible for marriage. This ruling was made despite the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
A Supreme Court bench, comprising Justices B.V. Nagarathna and R. Mahadevan, upheld the High Court’s decision, stating that the NCPCR had no jurisdiction to object to the High Court’s order of providing protection to the minor girl and her child. The NCPCR had argued that the marriage constituted child marriage and child sexual abuse, violating the country’s minimum age of marriage laws.
The Supreme Court, however, rejected these arguments, emphasizing that when the life and liberty of a child are at stake, legal questions surrounding such laws cannot be debated. The court affirmed that the High Court’s intervention under Article 226 of the Constitution to protect the fundamental rights of the girl was appropriate, given that she had willingly chosen to live with her husband.
This case has once again brought to the forefront the conflict between the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, which sets the minimum age of marriage at 18 for all religions, and Muslim Personal Law, which does not specify a fixed age for marriage.
The Supreme Court also dismissed similar petitions in three other cases, advising the NCPCR to not view every consensual relationship as a crime. Justice Nagarathna cautioned against misusing the POCSO Act, particularly in cases where it might be used by parents to address matters of “honor.”
The ruling has reignited the national debate on the legal age of consent for marriage. This comes after a proposal by senior lawyer Indira Jaising on July 24, 2025, to reduce the legal age of consent from 18 to 16 years, a suggestion that aligns with the 2013 Justice Verma Committee report.
The report had recommended lowering the age to 16 to prevent the misuse of laws like POCSO and to avoid false kidnapping charges against young boys in consensual relationships.