Supreme Court to examine Child Marriage Act for annulment guidelines

In October 2024, the husband’s plea for annulment of marriage was allowed.

The Supreme Court is set to examine discrepancies in the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act regarding the annulment of underage marriages.

According to Bar and Bench, the top court issued notice on a petition raising the issue as to whether the age of “majority” - for males - when computing limitation period for filing a petition seeking annulment of marriage under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), should be 18 or 21 years.

The notice was issued on a plea filed by a woman against an Allahabad HC order which had held that the age of becoming major for males under the Act was 21 years and annulled her marriage on her husband’s plea who was around 23 years of age at the time.

As per Section 3 of the Act, every child marriage shall be voidable at the option of the contracting party who was a child at the time of marriage. A petition may be filed at any time but before the child filing the petition completes two years of attaining majority.

In the present case, the husband is stated to have been 12 yrs of age (born in 1992), and the wife 9 yrs of age (born in 1995), when they got married. In 2013, the husband filed a suit under Section 12(2) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (HMA) seeking annulment of the marriage. Subsequently, he sought to amend the suit to invoke Section 3 of PCMA, which was permitted.

The woman said that the Allahabad HC committed an error in annulling the marriage which was solemnised in 2004 when she was nine and her husband was 12.

“Interpretation and application of Section 3 of the PCM Act as rendered by the HC in its judgment extends the limitation period for filing a suit to void a child marriage up to the age of 23 for a male. This is in direct conflict with the legislative purpose, constitutional principles and the protective ethos of the PCM Act,” she said as quoted by Times of India.

The husband moved the high court in 2018.  In October 2024, his plea for annulment of marriage was allowed. “The respondent, having attained majority on Aug 7, 2010, filed the annulment petition on July 5, 2013, well beyond the limitation period prescribed under PCM Act. HC failed to appreciate the distinction between the age of legal capacity to marry and the age of legal capacity to institute legal proceedings,” the woman said as quoted by TOI.