A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in the Supreme Court to lower the marriageable age for men from 21 to 18 has been rejected. Ashok Pandey, the lawyer who filed the PIL has been slapped with a fine of Rs 25,000 for wasting the court’s time on a trivial case, reports India.com
In the past, a lawyer had been fined Rs 1 lakh for seeking to dismantle all the colonial laws through his PIL. Tearing into the advocate’s petition, the bench had asked, “Which colonial law is creating the problem?” All laws are colonial laws, the lawyer responded. To which the court responded, “You are wasting your own time and you cannot waste the court’s time.”
In March 2017, a SC bench headed by then Chief Justice JS Khekar had stated that frivolous petitions will invite a fine upto Rs 5 lakh as they tarnish the sanctity of the apex court.