he Kerala High Court has ruled that the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 is applicable to every citizen of this country irrespective of his or her religion as every Indian is a citizen first and then becomes a member of a religion.

Justice P V Kunhikrishnan in a recent order on a petition to quash a case registered in 2012 in Palakkad against a child marriage, said irrespective of religion, whether a person is Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Parsi etc., the Act is applicable to all.

The petitioners, including the father of the then minor girl, contended before the court that being a Muslim she enjoys the religious right to marry after attaining puberty, i.e., at the age of 15.