The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed another petition seeking for uniform age of marriage for men and women. The matter was listed before a bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice JB Pardiwala.
At the very outset, the Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta submitted that the court had earlier too dismissed a petition seeking similar directions. He argued that the matter fell within the legislative domain. He also added that if the provisions providing for age of marriage are struck down, there would be no minimum age for marriage in the country. The SG was referring to a petition filed by lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, which had argued that the difference in stipulated age of marriage for men and women was based on on patriarchal stereotypes, hadd no scientific backing, perpetrated de jure and de facto inequality against women, and went completely against the global trends.