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Muslim personal law can't override POCSO, child marriage act: Allahbad High Court

The Allahabad High Court has held that no personal law, including Muslim personal law, can violate the prohibition on child marriage under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 (PCMA), or override the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act), as reported by the Bar and Bench A Bench of Justices JJ Munir and Achal Sachdev made the observation while refusing to quash a first information report (FIR) 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. In its July 1 ruling in Rubi Vs State of UP, the Court said that Shariat, which forms the basis of Muslim personal law, permitting marriage at puberty is inconsistent with the statutory prohibition on child marriage and laws criminalising sexual relations with minors. “The Shariat Law providing for puberty as the competent age under the law permissible for a girl to marry or be married, runs clearly in the teeth of the PCMA as well as the POCSO Act,” the Court observed. The Bench noted that there are conflicting views among High Courts on the issue but said it agreed with the Kerala High Court's 2024 judgment, which held that the prohibition on child marriage applies to all citizens regardless of religion. The Court also noted that the issue had earlier reached the Supreme Court, but the apex court did not deliver an authoritative ruling. It further observed that the Supreme Court, in 2024, had highlighted the uncertainty over whether personal laws could prevail over the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act. Referring to the proposed 2021 amendment that sought to expressly give the PCMA overriding effect over personal laws, the High Court said the Bill appeared to have lapsed following the dissolution of the 17th Lok Sabha. The case arose from a plea seeking to quash an FIR registered at Kakor police station in Bulandshahr on February 15, 2026. According to the prosecution, police and Child Line officials received information about the proposed marriage of a minor girl and visited her residence to prevent it. When officials attempted to produce the girl before the Child Welfare Committee, the petitioners and several others allegedly abused and threatened the police and Child Line team. The Bench further observed that permitting the marriage of a person below 18 years would likely result in a violation of the POCSO Act because sexual relations are ordinarily inseparable from marriage. “The PCMA and the POCSO Act are statutes that are based on public health and national policy in this regard.