The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that under Muslim Personal Law, a Muslim boy or girl who has attained puberty is competent to exercise a choice in marriage, with puberty being presumed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, upon completion of 15 years.
Justice Vikram Aggarwal made the observation while dealing with a petition filed by a Muslim couple seeking protection of their life and personal liberty after marrying against the wishes of the woman’s family.
The couple had approached the High Court apprehending threats from the woman’s relatives following their Nikah. The man was 26 years old, while the woman was aged 17 years and eight months when they approached the Court.
According to the petition, the two had known each other for some time and had developed an understanding which culminated in their decision to marry. The woman subsequently left her parental home on August 22, 2026, and solemnised the Nikah with the petitioner on the same day in accordance with Muslim rites.
The couple later submitted a representation to the police seeking protection, alleging apprehension of danger from members of the woman’s family. As no decision was taken on the representation, they invoked the jurisdiction of the High Court seeking protection of their life and liberty.
The petitioners relied upon the principles of Mohammedan Law governing the capacity to contract a marriage. Their counsel contended that, under Muslim Personal Law, attainment of puberty is treated as sufficient to confer legal capacity to marry, and that a guardian’s consent is not indispensable once the individual has attained puberty.
The High Court referred to Article 195 of Sir Dinshah Fardunji Mulla’s Principles of Mohammedan Law, which recognises a Muslim of sound mind who has attained puberty as competent to enter into a marriage contract. The legal presumption, in the absence of evidence establishing an earlier or later attainment of puberty, operates from the age of 15 years.
The Court also placed reliance upon its earlier decision in Kammu v. State of Haryana, wherein it had held that a Muslim boy or girl who has attained puberty is at liberty to marry a person of their choice, and that a guardian cannot interfere with such a choice where the requirements of the applicable law are satisfied.
Reference was also made to the Court’s ruling in Gulam Deen v. State of Punjab, which had emphasised that in petitions seeking protection of life and liberty, the immediate judicial concern is the protection of the petitioners from threats or harm rather than an adjudication upon the ultimate validity of the matrimonial relationship.
The Court noted that the State was unable to controvert either the factual assertions made by the petitioners or the legal position emerging from the precedents cited before it.
At the same time, the High Court consciously refrained from entering into the merits of the matrimonial relationship or recording a definitive finding regarding the validity of the marriage.
Instead, it disposed of the petition by directing the Senior Superintendent of Police (Rural), Ludhiana, to consider the representation submitted by the petitioners and take such action as may be warranted in accordance with law and the circumstances of the case.
The ruling thus reiterates the distinction between personal-law principles governing capacity to marry and the Court’s limited jurisdiction in a protection petition. The High Court was principally concerned with the petitioners’ claim to protection of life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution and did not undertake a comprehensive adjudication of the marriage itself.
The decision also reinforces the judicial principle that opposition from family members, by itself, cannot justify deprivation of constitutional protection where an individual invokes the jurisdiction of the Court against an apprehension to life or liberty.
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