GUWAHATI: The Supreme Court said on Friday, October 18 that the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act cannot be stunted by traditions under any personal law. The court observed that marriages involving children violate the free will to choose a life partner.
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However, the bench also observed that the question of whether the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act would prevail over personal laws was pending before the Parliament for consideration. The Centre had submitted that the apex court should hold the PCMA to prevail over personal laws.
A Bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, along with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, noted that merely prosecuting those in child marriages has not been the answer to discouraging it in the long run.
The Court, however, underscored the area that such must not be a prosecutorial approach, for it had already been proven to be counter-productive. It instead called upon the different sectors to have better coordination with the enhanced training of law enforcers in implementing the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act of 2006 or PCMA.
"Marriages fixed in the minority of a child also have the effect of violating free choice, autonomy, agency and childhood. It takes away from them their choice of life partner before they mature and form the ability to assert agency," the Court said in its judgement to effectively implement the PCMA.
"Preventive strategy should be tailored to different communities. The law will only succeed when there is multi-sectoral coordination. Training and capacity building of law enforcement officers needs to be there," the court said.
The Court emphasised after highlighting that some issues of law relating to the PCMA remain pending, commented that a bill to amend the Act is already pending in Parliament. This would mean that the Act will prevail over personal laws related to marriage.
The Supreme court directed the Ministry of Women and Child Development to share with all chief secretaries and the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) the judgement to ensure proper implementation of the judgement of the Court.