While protecting a Muslim couple aged 16 and 21 from family members, the Punjab and Haryana High Court declared on Monday that a Muslim girl beyond the age of 16 is competent to enter into a contract of marriage with a person of her choice.
The ruling was issued by a single-judge bench led by Justice Jasjit Singh Bedi in response to a petition filed by a Pathankot-based Muslim couple seeking protection from the court. ‘The petitioners cannot be deprived of their basic rights as envisioned in the Indian Constitution just because they married against the preferences of their family members,’ the bench observed.
Invoking Islamic Sharia law, Justice Bedi stated that a Muslim girl’s marriage is controlled by Muslim Personal Law. According to Article 195 of Sir Dinshah Fardunji Mulla’s book ‘Principles of Mohammedan Law,’ the petitioner No. 2 (female) is competent to enter into a contract of marriage with a person of her choice if she is over the age of 16. Petitioner No. 1 (a boy) is reported to be over the age of 21. As a result, both petitioners are of marriageable age under Muslim Personal Law,’ he stated.
According to the petitioners, their marriage was solemnised on June 8, 2022, in accordance with Muslim rituals and customs. Their families, however, are opposed to the union and have allegedly threatened them for marrying without their consent. The petitioner pair stated that in Muslim law, puberty and majority are synonymous, and that there is a presumption that a person attains majority at the age of 15 years.
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