The Allahabad High Court directed Uttar Pradesh to strengthen age verification during marriage registration. The ruling aims to prevent child marriages by rejecting Aadhaar and unverified school records.Stock photo used for illustrationPrayagraj,Oct 28, 2026 23:08 ISTThe Allahabad High Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh government to prevent the registration of child marriages, ruling that Aadhaar cards and unverified school transfer certificates cannot be accepted as proof of age, news agency Press Trust of India reported.Justice Tej Pratap Tiwari said marriage registration authorities must ensure that, on the date of application, the groom is at least 21 years old and the bride is at least 18.The directions were issued on Tuesday while the court was hearing a petition filed by Deepak Pal.
The case concerned a marriage registered on the basis of a school transfer certificate and an Aadhaar card.The court found that the transfer certificate had not been verified in the prescribed manner and held that the marriage registration could not be sustained. "The registering authority therefore had no verified proof of age before it registered the marriage, and thereby did not discharge the duty," the bench observed, according to PTI. Rejecting reliance on Aadhaar and unverified educational records, the court said: "An Aadhaar card cannot prove age and a mere transfer certificate does not answer the description of any class of documents mentioned in Section 94(2)(i) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015."The court directed that the state's online portal must record the source used to verify age, flag discrepancies and stop the automatic generation of marriage certificates when verification is incomplete.
If the documents raise doubts or indicate that either party is underage, the application must be referred to the child marriage prohibition officer and the district magistrate. Referring to the Supreme Court's judgment in Seema v.
Ashwani Kumar, Justice Tiwari observed: "The issue is therefore not merely whether the date of birth is entered in the marriage register, but whether the process of registration is so structured that it meaningfully verifies age and thereby serves the very purpose for which compulsory registration has been contemplated."The court will next hear the case on November 27. Its directions require authorities across Uttar Pradesh to verify the ages of both parties before registering a marriage and to refer doubtful or underage cases to the designated officials.- Ends