NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a PIL seeking to lower the marriageable age of a male from 21 years to 18 years and imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 observing that no public interest was involved in it.
The Public Interest Litigation was moved by advocate Asok Pande. The court was unmoved as Pande repeatedly urged it to waive the cost of Rs 25,000.
"If any 18-year-old person approaches us with this kind of plea, we will give him the cost deposited by you," Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said.
Pande has contended that when 18-year-old can vote in elections and choose their representatives, then why there should be such a higher age bar for marriage.
He cited the provisions of the Child Marriage Restraint Act, the Special Marriage Act and the Hindu Marriage Act which provide for the marriageable age for men and women and contended that they were violative of fundamental rights guaranteed under the constitution.