Allahabad High Court Issues Statewide Directions To Prevent Child Marriages, Bars Aadhaar-Only Age Verification

The Allahabad High Court has issued strict statewide directions to prevent the registration of child marriages in Uttar Pradesh, wherein it has made the verification of the date of birth of both parties mandatory before a marriage registration certificate can be issued.

The Court directed the State Government to ensure that its online registration system does not issue certificates based solely on Aadhaar age records and does not allow applications to proceed when age is unverified or a discrepancy is flagged.

A bench of Justice Tej Pratap Tiwari issued these directions until an amendment is carried out in the Uttar Pradesh Marriage Registration Rules, 2017 or a comprehensive statutory procedure is issued.

"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 JJ Act", the Court observed.

The Court issued the directions while examining a case in which a marriage had been registered on the basis of a transfer certificate and an Aadhaar card. It said that the registration could not be sustained because the transfer certificate had not been verified in the prescribed manner.

"The registering authority therefore had no verified proof of age before it registered the marriage, and thereby did not discharge the duty", it said.

The Court observed that compulsory registration of marriages is not merely a mechanism for maintaining records but also serves as a safeguard against child marriages and other consequences of unrecorded matrimonial relationships.

Referring to the Supreme Court's decision in Seema v. Ashwani Kumar, the Court noted the importance of compulsory registration in preventing child marriages and ensuring the minimum age of marriage.

"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", it observed.

The Court reiterated that the registering authority must ensure that both parties have attained the statutory age on the date of the registration application, 21 years for the groom and 18 years for the bride.

The Court examined existing Uttar Pradesh government instructions on age verification and found that they did not prescribe a clear hierarchy among the documents that could be relied upon.

Hence, it directed the State to prescribe and circulate a clear hierarchy of age records, consistent with the governing law.

"The date of birth certificate issued by the competent authority under the law governing registration of births and deaths, and the matriculation or equivalent record, shall be dealt with in the prescribed order; other educational or governmental records may be considered in the circumstances and order notified by the State", the bench said.

It added that where two authoritative records show different dates of birth, the application must be flagged rather than automatically accepting the document showing that the person has attained the statutory age.

The Marriage Registration Officer must verify the underlying records with the issuing authorities, determine which has the stronger legal and evidentiary basis, and record brief reasons for accepting the date of birth relied upon.

Directions issued by the High Court

• The Court directed that no marriage be registered where either party has not attained the statutory age on the date of the application.
• If the material before the registering authority shows, or raises a reasonable doubt, that either party is underage, the application must not be processed routinely. The matter must instead be brought immediately to the notice of the Child Marriage Prohibition Officer and the District Magistrate for action in accordance with law.
• The State Government must ensure that the online registration system records the source used to verify both parties' dates of birth and prevents an application from proceeding where age remains unverified or a discrepancy has been flagged.
• The Principal Secretary, Stamp and Registration Department must ensure that the Standard Operating Procedure addresses ordinary cases, conflicting records, doubtful or unavailable documents, and escalation. The online portal must, as far as technically feasible, flag discrepancies and prevent automatic generation of certificates while mandatory verification remains incomplete.

The Court also directed the Inspector General of Registration, Uttar Pradesh, to organize a State-level sensitization program for Marriage Registration Officers and supervisory officials on age verification, source checking, conflicting records and identification of suspected child marriages.

Further, the Secretary of each District Legal Services Authority has been directed to inspect marriage registration offices every two months, examine a sample of marriages registered since the previous inspection and scrutinise their age-verification records.

Reports must be submitted to the District Judge, who will forward them to the Registrar General for placement before the Court, the Court directed.

District Judges have also been directed to convene meetings with the District Magistrate, registration officials and Child Marriage Prohibition Officers to discuss implementation of the directions.

The matter has been listed for November 27, 2026, along with compliance reports from the authorities concerned.