The Delhi High Court delivered a landmark judicial pronouncement declaring that religious personal laws cannot override statutory penal enactments safeguarding minor children against sexual exploitation and statutory rape. In a meticulously reasoned verdict, the division bench ruled that the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and general criminal law apply universally, superseding customary personal law covenants.
Presiding judges clarified that legal concepts of marriage valid under personal religious jurisprudence cannot be invoked to legitimize physical relations with a partner below eighteen years of age. The court stressed that the legislative intent behind the POCSO Act is unambiguous in prioritizing the bodily integrity and welfare of minors above contractual or religious matrimonial interpretations.
Child rights advocates and legal scholars lauded the judicial clarity, observing that the precedent closes longstanding legal ambiguities often exploited to evade prosecution in child marriage prosecutions. Women’s rights organizations called upon law enforcement agencies and judicial magistrates to strictly apply the high court’s binding directions across all ongoing trial proceedings.
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Sources:
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-live-updates-27-september-2026-kerala-vigilance-bureau-gst-lpu-protests-raid-delhi-sir-deadline-extension-realtime-updates-10895778/