The Allahabad High Court has issued a set of nine-point directions to prevent child marriages in Uttar Pradesh, ruling that Aadhaar cards and school transfer certificates cannot be relied upon alone to establish age for marriage registration.
Justice Tej Pratap Tiwari, while hearing an appeal filed by Deepak Pal, observed that marriage registration was not merely a clerical exercise but an important safeguard against child marriage.
The court said Aadhaar establishes identity but cannot, by itself, serve as conclusive proof of age. It also held that school transfer certificates cannot be accepted without proper verification, directing authorities to rely on legally recognised documents, including birth certificates and relevant high school records.
The court directed the state government to update its online marriage registration portal to flag discrepancies in age-related documents and stop automatic certificate generation until verification is complete.
Applications raising suspicion that either party is underage — below 18 years for a girl or 21 years for a boy — must be referred to the Child Marriage Prohibition Officer and the District Magistrate instead of being processed routinely.
The court also directed the Principal Secretary of the Stamp and Registration Department to frame standard operating procedures for cases involving conflicting or missing records.
Further, the Secretary of each District Legal Services Authority has been asked to inspect marriage registration offices every two months and audit records to ensure compliance.
The court has sought compliance reports from the concerned departments on the implementation of its directions.