Delhi High Court on Tuesday sent to the Supreme Court a
petition seeking uniform minimum age for marriage for both men and women.
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and
Justice Subramonium Prasad was informed by the petitioner about the Supreme
Court's January 13 order by which the present petition was transferred to the
apex court itself.
"In light of the aforesaid order, the matter is
immediately transferred to the Supreme Court. The registry is directed to
transmit the record immediately to the Supreme Court," the bench said.
On January 13, the apex court transferred to itself
the petition filed by advocate and BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay, which was
pending before Delhi High Court, seeking equality in the legal age of marriage
for men and women.
The plea before the apex court stated that it had been
filed in order to avoid multiplicity of litigations and conflicting views on
the interpretation of articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution and judgments
involving gender justice and equality.
The Centre had earlier informed the high court that a
task force was constituted to study the issue of the minimum age of girls
entering motherhood.
The high court had granted time to the Centre to file
its response to the petition, which says the minimum age limit of 18 years for
a woman to get married amounted to "blatant discrimination".
Men in India are permitted to get married at the age
of 21.
The petitioner said the plea was filed raising a legal
question and forming a task force would not serve the purpose.
It is a matter concerning the right to equality
guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution, he has said.
The high court had earlier sought the Centre's
response on the BJP leader's PIL claiming that the difference in the minimum
age of marriage for men and women was based on patriarchal stereotypes and had
no scientific backing.
The difference in marriage age violated the principles
of gender equality, gender justice and dignity of women, the petition claimed.
The petition contended, "The petition challenges
a blatant, ongoing form of discrimination against women. That is the
discriminatory minimum age limit for marriage for men and women in India.
"While men in India are permitted to get married
only at the age of 21 years, women are allowed to get married when they are 18.
This distinction is based in patriarchal stereotypes, has no scientific
backing, perpetrates de jure and de facto inequality against women, and goes
completely against global trends."
"...it is a social reality" that married women are
expected to perform a subordinate role vis--vis the husband and this
"power imbalance" is deeply aggravated by the age difference, it
said.
"A younger spouse is, therefore, expected to
respect and be servile to her elder partner, which aggravates the pre-existing
gender based hierarchy in the marital relationship," the petition stated.