The Allahabad High Court has held that no personal law, including Muslim personal law, can override the provisions of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006, or the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012.
The Bench of Justice JJ Munir and Justice Achal Sachdev made the observation while refusing to quash an FIR lodged against 19 persons accused of obstructing police and Child Line officials who had gone to stop the marriage of a 16-year-old Muslim girl in Uttar Pradesh.
The Court observed that the concept under Shariat law permitting marriage after attainment of puberty cannot stand in conflict with modern child protection laws enacted by Parliament. It further clarified that the legal age of marriage prescribed under the PCMA applies equally to every citizen, irrespective of religion.
The Court noted that there have been differing views among various High Courts on the issue but expressed agreement with a 2024 judgment of the Kerala High Court, which held that the prohibition on child marriage applies uniformly across all religions.
The case arose from an FIR registered at Kakor police station in Bulandshahr on February 15, 2026. According to the prosecution, police and Child Line officials had received information regarding the proposed marriage of a minor girl and reached the spot to prevent it.
The FIR alleged that when officials attempted to take the girl before the Child Welfare Committee, the accused persons abused, threatened and obstructed them. It was also alleged that the girl was forcibly taken away from the custody of a Child Line member.
The petitioners argued that under Muslim personal law, a girl who has attained puberty, generally presumed at 15 years of age, is competent to marry. They contended that the PCMA would not override their personal law.
Rejecting the argument, the High Court observed that permitting marriage below 18 years would also likely result in violation of the POCSO Act, since marital relations ordinarily involve sexual relations with a minor.
The Court observed that because the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) and the POCSO Act are foundational statutes driven by national policy and public health interests, they apply universally without any exceptions.
The Bench further held that the police and Child Line officials had acted lawfully in trying to prevent the marriage and that the allegations disclosed a prima facie case of obstruction of public servants. It therefore refused to interfere with the FIR at the initial stage.
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