The Age Rule and Child Marriage Law: Court Marriage in Nangloi Jat
Nangloi Jat is one of the three sub-divisions of Delhi's North West district after the reorganisation effective 1 January 2026, alongside Kirari and Rohini.
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Nangloi Jat: the quick answer
Nangloi Jat is one of the three sub-divisions of Delhi's North West district after the reorganisation effective 1 January 2026, alongside Kirari and Rohini. It covers Nangloi, Nangloi Jat village, Mundka Road side, Jwala Puri, Ranhola and the colonies running along the Rohtak Road corridor. Of the four conditions for a lawful marriage, the age condition is the one people treat most casually - a few months here or there, a date on a school certificate that was never quite right, a family that has already fixed everything. It is also the one with the widest consequences, because it is not governed only by the marriage statutes. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 sits over all of them, and it defines a child differently from the way most people expect, makes such a marriage voidable at the option of the party who was a child, and creates offences for the adult who marries, for whoever performs the ceremony, and for whoever promotes or permits it. This page sets that out plainly.
Court marriage in Nangloi Jat: key facts at a glance
| District after 1 January 2026 | North West. Its sub-divisions are Nangloi Jat, Kirari and Rohini |
|---|---|
| Marriage ages | Man twenty-one, woman eighteen, completed on the date of the marriage - SMA s.4(c); HMA s.5(iii) |
| Who is a 'child' | A male who has not completed 21, a female who has not completed 18 - PCMA 2006, s.2(a) |
| Child marriage, defined | A marriage to which either contracting party is a child - s.2(b) |
| Status of such a marriage | Voidable at the option of the contracting party who was a child - s.3 |
| The window to annul | At any time, but before that party completes two years from attaining majority - s.3(3) |
| Gifts | The court orders the return of money, valuables, ornaments and gifts received on the occasion - s.3 |
| Maintenance | The court may order maintenance and residence for the female party until her remarriage - s.4 |
| Children | Deemed legitimate for all purposes - s.6 |
| Offences | The adult male who marries (s.9), whoever performs or abets (s.10), whoever promotes or permits (s.11) |
Nangloi Jat after the 2026 reorganisation
The Delhi government's notification of 25 December 2025, effective 1 January 2026, took the National Capital Territory from eleven revenue districts and thirty-three sub-divisions to thirteen and thirty-nine. The North West district was reconstituted with three sub-divisions: Nangloi Jat, Kirari and Rohini.
This changed the district substantially. Saraswati Vihar and Kanjhawala were previously sub-divisions of North West and are not among the thirty-nine created on 1 January 2026, so any page directing you to those offices predates this year.
The Nangloi Jat sub-division covers Nangloi and Nangloi Jat village, Jwala Puri, Ranhola, Nihal Vihar and the belt along Rohtak Road. The SDM functions as Marriage Officer for people resident within it, at the Revenue Department's published counter window of 9.30 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. on any working day.
The rule, stated exactly
Section 4(c) of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 requires that at the time of the marriage 'the male has completed the age of twenty-one years and the female the age of eighteen years'. Section 5(iii) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 is to the same effect.
Three things about that wording matter.
Completed. Not approaching, not turning that age later in the year. Completed.
At the time of the marriage. Not at the time of the application, not at the time the certificate is issued, and not at the time the family fixed the date. If the ceremony takes place three weeks before the bride's eighteenth birthday, the age condition was not satisfied at the marriage, and nothing that happens afterwards changes the date on which it took place.
And the ages are different for the two parties - twenty-one and eighteen - which is a distinction people frequently get backwards.
That is the marriage-statute rule. What sits over it is a separate Act with a wider reach.
The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006
This Act applies whatever personal law governs the marriage, and it starts with a definition that surprises people.
Section 2(a): 'child' means a person who, if a male, has not completed twenty-one years of age, and if a female, has not completed eighteen years of age. So a twenty-year-old man is a child for the purposes of this Act. That is not a drafting oddity - it tracks the marriage ages in the personal-law statutes.
Section 2(b): 'child marriage' means a marriage to which either of the contracting parties is a child.
Section 3 then sets the status. A child marriage is voidable at the option of the contracting party who was a child at the time of the marriage. Note who holds that option: the person who was under age. Not the family, not the other spouse, not the state.
Section 3(3) sets the window, and it is the provision most often missed. A petition may be filed at any time, but before the child filing it completes two years from attaining majority. So a woman married at sixteen attains majority at eighteen and has until twenty to file; a man married at nineteen has until twenty-three. After that the option is gone and the marriage stands.
Where the court grants a decree, section 3 requires it to order the return of the money, valuables, ornaments and other gifts received on the occasion of the marriage, by the party or on that party's behalf.
Section 4 allows the court to order the male contracting party - or, where he is himself a minor, his parent or guardian - to pay maintenance to the female party until her remarriage, and to make an order about her residence until her remarriage.
Section 6 protects the children: every child begotten or conceived of such a marriage before the decree is made is deemed to be a legitimate child for all purposes.
That is the civil architecture. It is deliberately built so that annulling the marriage does not leave the woman without support or the children without status.
| Question | Answer | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Who is a child? | Male under 21; female under 18 | s.2(a) |
| What is a child marriage? | A marriage where either party is a child | s.2(b) |
| Is it void or voidable? | Voidable, at the option of the party who was a child | s.3 |
| Who can apply? | That party; through a guardian or next friend if still a minor | s.3 |
| By when? | Before completing two years from attaining majority | s.3(3) |
| What happens to the gifts? | The court orders their return | s.3 |
| Maintenance and residence | May be ordered for the female party until her remarriage | s.4 |
| The children | Deemed legitimate for all purposes | s.6 |
| When is such a marriage outright void? | Where the minor was taken or enticed away, or force, deceit or trafficking was involved | s.12 |
The offences
The Act creates liability for three groups of people, and the reach is wider than most families assume.
Section 9: 'Whoever, being a male adult above eighteen years of age, contracts a child marriage shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment which may extend to two years or with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees or with both.'
Section 10: 'Whoever performs, conducts, directs or abets any child marriage shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment which may extend to two years and shall be liable to fine which may extend to one lakh rupees.' That reaches the person who solemnises the marriage.
Section 11 deals with promoting or permitting the solemnisation of child marriages - which is aimed at parents, guardians and others in charge of the child, including those who fail to prevent it. The punishment is rigorous imprisonment which may extend to two years and a fine which may extend to one lakh rupees, with an express provision that no woman shall be punishable with imprisonment.
Section 12 goes further in the worst cases: a marriage of a minor child is null and void where the child is taken or enticed out of the keeping of the lawful guardian, or compelled by force or induced by deceitful means to go from any place, or is sold or trafficked or used for immoral purposes.
Section 13 provides a preventive remedy: a magistrate may issue an injunction prohibiting a child marriage, on an application or a complaint - and a person who, knowing of the injunction, disobeys it is punishable with imprisonment which may extend to two years or a fine up to one lakh rupees or both.
And the Act provides for Child Marriage Prohibition Officers, whose function includes preventing such marriages and collecting evidence for prosecution.
The reason to set this out on a marriage-registration page is simple. Families sometimes treat the age rule as paperwork - something to be managed with a document. It is not paperwork. It is a statute with offences attached to the person who marries, the person who conducts the ceremony, and the people who arrange it.
- s.9 - the adult male who contracts a child marriage
- s.10 - whoever performs, conducts, directs or abets it
- s.11 - whoever promotes or permits its solemnisation; no woman punishable with imprisonment
- s.12 - the marriage is void where enticement, force, deceit or trafficking is involved
- s.13 - a magistrate may injunct a child marriage; disobeying the injunction is an offence
- Child Marriage Prohibition Officers exist to prevent such marriages and gather evidence
Why a document will not solve it
This has to be said directly, because it is the thing people reach for.
Where a person's recorded date of birth does not reflect reality, the lawful answer is to correct the record through the proper process - a delayed birth registration under section 13(3) of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, which for a birth more than a year old requires an order of a first class magistrate after the correctness of the birth is verified. Our Mehrauli page sets that route out.
What is not an answer is a fabricated or backdated document. Using a forged public document before a Marriage Officer is an offence under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and section 45 of the Special Marriage Act separately makes it the offence described in section 199 of the Indian Penal Code to make, sign or attest a declaration required under that Act containing a statement known or believed to be false.
And the practical consequence is worse than the legal one. A false date embedded in a public record does not stay in the marriage file. It follows the person through every passport application, every visa, every employment verification and every pension claim for the rest of their life - and the moment anyone compares it against a school record or a sibling's documents, the whole file becomes suspect rather than just the date.
The honest position: if either party is under age, the marriage should wait. That is an unwelcome sentence to a family that has fixed a date. It is also the only advice that does not end badly.
If a marriage is being arranged for someone under age
This section is for a person trying to stop one - the young person themselves, a sibling, a teacher, a neighbour.
There is a preventive remedy designed exactly for this. Section 13 of the 2006 Act allows a judicial magistrate of the first class or a metropolitan magistrate to issue an injunction prohibiting a child marriage, on an application or on a complaint, and a person who disobeys a known injunction commits an offence.
The Child Marriage Prohibition Officer for the area has a statutory function of preventing such marriages, and the police can be approached directly. The child helpline exists for a person under eighteen. The Delhi Commission for Women and the district legal services authority are both routes in, and legal aid is free.
For a young person in this position, the practical points are the same as in any coercion situation. Tell one adult outside the family - a teacher, a doctor, a helpline. Keep your own documents where you can reach them. Write down dates. And ask early, because a marriage that has not happened is far easier to prevent than one that has to be annulled.
It is also worth knowing what the law does not require of you. There is no requirement to persuade a family, to obtain anybody's agreement, or to have proof beyond your own account before approaching a magistrate, an officer or the police. The complaint is the starting point, not the conclusion.
- A magistrate may injunct a child marriage on application or complaint - s.13
- Disobeying a known injunction is an offence - s.13
- Child Marriage Prohibition Officers have a statutory duty to prevent such marriages
- The police can be approached directly; the child helpline exists for anyone under eighteen
- District legal services authorities provide free legal aid
- Prevention is far simpler than annulment - ask early
What happens to a marriage that has already taken place
Taking the questions in the order they arise.
Is it valid? A child marriage is voidable rather than void, except in the section 12 cases. It is a marriage unless and until the party who was a child obtains a decree annulling it.
Who can annul it? Only the contracting party who was a child at the time of the marriage, under section 3 - through a guardian or next friend if that party is still a minor.
By when? Before that party completes two years from attaining majority - section 3(3). After that the option lapses.
What about the gifts? On granting a decree, the court orders the return of money, valuables, ornaments and other gifts received on the occasion of the marriage.
What about support? Section 4 allows the court to order maintenance for the female party until her remarriage, and to make an order about her residence until her remarriage.
What about the children? Section 6 deems every child begotten or conceived of the marriage before the decree to be a legitimate child for all purposes.
And separately, the offences under sections 9, 10 and 11 do not depend on whether anybody annuls anything.
Anything real in this area is fact-specific and should go to an advocate or a district legal services authority with the facts in front of them.
| Question | Position | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Valid or void? | Voidable - valid until annulled, except in s.12 cases | s.3, s.12 |
| Who may petition? | The party who was a child; via guardian or next friend if still a minor | s.3 |
| Deadline | Two years from attaining majority | s.3(3) |
| Gifts | Court orders their return | s.3 |
| Maintenance and residence | May be ordered for the female party until remarriage | s.4 |
| Children | Deemed legitimate for all purposes | s.6 |
| Offences | Independent of any annulment | s.9, s.10, s.11 |
Registering a marriage in Nangloi Jat
For couples who are both of age - which is the overwhelming majority of people reading this - the process is the ordinary one.
If the ceremony has happened and both of you are Hindu, Buddhist, Jain or Sikh: registration under section 8 of the Hindu Marriage Act with the Delhi (Compulsory Registration of Marriage) Order, 2014. Clause 4(a) gives sixty days from the marriage, excluding the day of the final ceremony, on a fee of Rs 200. Clause 4(d) requires both parties to appear in person with two witnesses who attended the ceremony and hold proof of permanent residence in Delhi. Clause 6 allows condonation of up to sixty further days on Rs 500; clause 7 imposes a Rs 1,000 penalty beyond that, remittable by the Additional District Magistrate or District Magistrate; clause 10 offers an optional priority facility for Rs 10,000. The Revenue Department's Hindu Marriage Act page states Rs 100 on that route.
If there has been no ceremony, or you are of different faiths: the Special Marriage Act. Notice under section 5 to the Marriage Officer of a district where at least one of you has resided for thirty days, publication under section 6, thirty days for objections under section 7, solemnisation on or after the thirty-first day before three witnesses under section 11, and the certificate under section 13, which section 13(2) makes conclusive evidence of the marriage.
On age proof, the Revenue Department lists exactly three acceptable documents: matriculation certificate, passport or birth certificate. Aadhaar is not among them - keep it in the file as identity and address evidence. On residence: voter I-Card, ration card, driving licence or passport. Self-attest everything and carry originals.
Nothing on this page is advice on any particular family's situation. Where a child marriage is in prospect or has taken place, that belongs with an advocate, a district legal services authority, a Child Marriage Prohibition Officer or the police - and the earlier the better.
| Item | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Registration fee (Delhi Order 2014) | Rs 200 | cl.4 |
| Registration fee (Revenue Dept HMA page) | Rs 100 | revenue.delhi.gov.in |
| Registration window | 60 days from the marriage | cl.4(a) |
| Condonation up to 60 further days | Rs 500 additional | cl.6 |
| Penalty beyond that | Rs 1,000, remittable by ADM/DM | cl.7 |
| Optional priority facility | Rs 10,000 additional | cl.10 |
Frequently asked questions
Which district is Nangloi Jat in after the 2026 reorganisation?
North West. Under the notification of 25 December 2025, effective 1 January 2026, the North West district comprises Nangloi Jat, Kirari and Rohini. Saraswati Vihar and Kanjhawala are not among the thirty-nine sub-divisions created on that date.
What are the marriage ages?
The man must have completed twenty-one and the woman eighteen, on the date of the marriage - section 4(c) of the Special Marriage Act and section 5(iii) of the Hindu Marriage Act. Completed, not approaching.
Who counts as a 'child' under the 2006 Act?
Section 2(a) of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 defines a child as a person who, if male, has not completed twenty-one years, and if female, has not completed eighteen. So a twenty-year-old man is a child for that Act's purposes.
Is a child marriage void?
Generally no - it is voidable at the option of the contracting party who was a child at the time of the marriage, under section 3. It is void in the section 12 cases, where the minor was enticed away, compelled by force, induced by deceit, or sold or trafficked.
Who can apply to annul it?
Only the contracting party who was a child at the time of the marriage - through a guardian or next friend if that party is still a minor. Not the family, not the other spouse.
Is there a deadline to annul?
Yes, and it is easy to miss. Section 3(3) allows a petition at any time, but before the child filing it completes two years from attaining majority. A woman married at sixteen has until she turns twenty; a man married at nineteen, until twenty-three.
What happens to the wedding gifts if the marriage is annulled?
Section 3 requires the court, on granting a decree, to order the return of the money, valuables, ornaments and other gifts received on the occasion of the marriage.
Will the woman be left without support?
Section 4 allows the court to order the male contracting party - or his parent or guardian where he is himself a minor - to pay maintenance to the female party until her remarriage, and to make an order about her residence until her remarriage.
What about children of such a marriage?
Section 6 provides that every child begotten or conceived of the marriage before the decree is made is deemed to be a legitimate child for all purposes. The Act is built so that annulment does not cost the children their status.
Is contracting a child marriage an offence?
Yes. Section 9 provides that a male adult above eighteen who contracts a child marriage is punishable with rigorous imprisonment which may extend to two years, or a fine up to one lakh rupees, or both.
What about the person who performs the ceremony?
Section 10 provides that whoever performs, conducts, directs or abets a child marriage is punishable with rigorous imprisonment which may extend to two years and a fine which may extend to one lakh rupees.
Can parents be prosecuted?
Section 11 deals with promoting or permitting the solemnisation of a child marriage, which reaches parents, guardians and others in charge of the child, including for failing to prevent it. The punishment may extend to two years' rigorous imprisonment and a fine up to one lakh rupees, with an express provision that no woman shall be punishable with imprisonment.
Can a child marriage be stopped before it happens?
Yes. Section 13 allows a magistrate to issue an injunction prohibiting a child marriage on an application or a complaint, and a person who knowingly disobeys such an injunction is punishable with imprisonment which may extend to two years, or a fine up to one lakh rupees, or both.
Who else can help stop one?
The Child Marriage Prohibition Officer for the area, whose statutory function includes preventing such marriages; the police, who can be approached directly; the child helpline for anyone under eighteen; the Delhi Commission for Women; and district legal services authorities, whose legal aid is free.
Do I need proof before making a complaint?
No. There is no requirement to persuade a family, obtain anybody's agreement, or assemble proof before approaching a magistrate, a Child Marriage Prohibition Officer or the police. The complaint is the starting point.
Our daughter turns eighteen a month after the wedding date. Does that work?
No. The condition is that the age is completed at the time of the marriage. A ceremony before her eighteenth birthday is a child marriage under the 2006 Act, whatever happens a month later, and the offences under sections 9, 10 and 11 attach to that ceremony.
Can we just correct the date on a document?
Where a recorded date genuinely does not reflect reality, the lawful route is delayed birth registration under section 13(3) of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, which requires an order of a first class magistrate. A fabricated or backdated document is a forgery, and section 45 of the Special Marriage Act separately makes a knowingly false declaration under that Act the offence described in section 199 of the Indian Penal Code.
Why is a false date so damaging beyond the offence?
Because it does not stay in the marriage file. It follows the person through every passport, visa, employment verification and pension claim afterwards, and the moment it is compared against a school record or a sibling's documents, the whole file becomes suspect.
Which documents prove date of birth?
Three, on the Revenue Department's list: matriculation certificate, passport, or birth certificate. Aadhaar is not among them; keep it in the file as identity and address evidence.
Does the age rule differ between the two marriage routes?
The ages are the same - twenty-one and eighteen - under section 4(c) of the Special Marriage Act and section 5(iii) of the Hindu Marriage Act. What differs is the effect of a breach on the marriage's status, and the 2006 Act applies over both.
How long do we have to register a marriage?
Sixty days from the marriage, excluding the day of the final ceremony - clause 4(a) of the Delhi Order 2014, on a fee of Rs 200.
We are past sixty days. What happens?
Clause 6 allows condonation of up to sixty further days on an additional Rs 500, and clause 7 imposes a Rs 1,000 penalty beyond that, remittable by the Additional District Magistrate or District Magistrate.
How many witnesses do we need?
Two under clause 4(d) of the Delhi Order, who attended the ceremony and hold proof of permanent residence in Delhi. Three at solemnisation under section 11 of the Special Marriage Act.
What are the office timings?
9.30 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. on any working day, at the office of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate in whose jurisdiction either the husband or the wife resides, as published by the Revenue Department.
What is the honest bottom line?
If either party is under age, the marriage waits. That is unwelcome to a family that has fixed a date, and it is the only course that does not end in an annulment petition, a prosecution, or a false date that follows someone for life.