Dear Sir,
According to the Hindu Marriage Act 1955, section 5(3) of the Act specifically provides for the legally valid age for marriage for males and females. A male shall be aged above 21 and females shall be above the age of 18 years to be legally accepted as ‘ready for marriage’. Any of the party having age below the specified age in the act cannot solemnize the marriage and can face legal issues.
Also if such person below the requisite age is compelled to get married by their guardian or parents or by undue influence shall be held liable for child marriage which has been prohibited by the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.
See, this question is slightly misleading, because marriage in India is covered under personal laws. So each religion has it’s own rules. Of course, there is the special marriage act as well, in case you do not want to get married under any religious law.
Under Hindu Marriage Act, Section 12 states certain situations where the marriage is void. When a marriage is void, it means that it is automatically considered an invalid marriage from the very beginning and there is no need to annul it. The following are the situations:
- One of the spouses is impotent.
- If the conditions for marriage have not fulfilled. Refer to the eligibility/conditions of marriage.
- Before 1978, a guardian had to given consent on behalf of the child getting married. In cases where the consent was obtained by fraud or force, the marriage is invalid and void in nature. The reason this practice was not followed after 1978 is due to the implementation of the Child Marriage Restraint(Amendment) Act, 1978.
- At the time of marriage, the woman was pregnant by some person other than the spouse.