The Supreme Court rejects the request for a uniform marriage age for both men and women.

On Monday, the Supreme Court turned down a request to equalise the marriage age for men and women.

Judge DY Chandrachud’s bench declined to take up the plea submitted by attorney Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay.

The bench ruled that it could not pass legislation and that no one should believe that the Supreme Court is the only guardian of the Constitution because parliament also serves in that capacity.

Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay was arguing in court for equality in the minimum age of marriage for both sexes. The petitioner claims that it is discriminatory for a woman’s age limit to be 18 while a man’s is 21.

The petitioner noted that there is a standard marriage age in more than 125 nations around the world. A higher minimum age would guarantee ‘greater autonomy to women in every respect,’ he continued.

He has said that it is a social fact that women are pressured to take up domestic duties in accordance with their stereotyped family responsibilities and that it is expected of them to have children as soon as they are married. Their reproductive autonomy is frequently affected, which hurts both their economic and educational goals, says the petition.