The Allahabad High Court has ruled that a boy being under 21 years of age does not automatically make a marriage void. This decision came in response to a case where a girl’s father filed an FIR under Sections 363 and 366 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), accusing a boy of kidnapping his daughter. The father feared that his daughter had either been sold or killed after leaving with the boy.
Following the FIR, the daughter, Pratiksha Singh, and her husband, Karan Maurya, approached the High Court seeking to have the FIR quashed. They argued that they were in love, had married each other, and were now living together.
In response, the father of the girl opposed the quashing of the FIR, claiming that the marriage was illegal because the boy had not yet turned 21, which he argued rendered the marriage invalid.
The court reviewed Section 11 of the Hindu Marriage Act, which defines void marriages. It noted that the law does not mention a violation of Clause (iii) of Section 5, which sets the legal age for marriage, as a reason to declare a marriage void. Therefore, the marriage could not be considered invalid on the basis that the boy was underage at the time.
Addressing the father’s kidnapping accusations against the boy, the court concluded that Sections 363 and 366, which deal with kidnapping and abduction, do not apply in this case. Since the girl joined the boy voluntarily and was not coerced, kidnapped, or forced into the marriage, the FIR did not stand.
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