In a Muslim marriage where the age of the bride is below the age of puberty but consent for marriage…

The ordinary legal category is voidable, not automatically void or merely irregular because a guardian arranged the marriage. The 1939 Act’s section 2(vii) permits repudiation of a marriage arranged by the father or another guardian before the girl attained fifteen, if repudiated before eighteen and not consummated. PCMA section 3 also provides child-marriage voidability, while sections 12 and 14 identify special circumstances of voidness. Consent of a guardian does not remove the applicable child-marriage protections.

Current law: For marriages governed by Uttarakhand Code, section 4(iii) prescribes ages 21 for a man and 18 for a woman; the Code’s corresponding voidability and statutory remedies must be applied within its scope. Its adoption does not justify ignoring the national child-marriage protections or section 2 exemptions.