Law on prevention of child marriages can't be stunted by personal laws: SC
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday held that the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act cannot be stunted by personal laws and that marriages involving children violate the free will to have a life partner of choice.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra also issued a slew of guidelines for effective implementation of the law on prevention of child marriages in the country.
Reading out the judgement, the CJI said the law on prevention of child marriages cannot be stunted by the personal law.
Such marriages are violative of minors' free will to choose life, it said.
The authorities must focus on child marriage prevention and protection of minors while penalising offenders as a last resort.
The bench also noted that the law on Prohibition of Child Marriage has certain gaps.
The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 was enacted to prevent child marriages and ensure their eradication from society. The Act replaced the Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929.
"Preventive strategy should be tailored to different communities, the law will only succeed when there is a multi sectoral coordination. Training and capacity building of the law enforcement officers needs to be there. We emphasise that there needs to be community driven approaches," the bench said.
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Vistara in-flight experience will continue post-merger, says Air India
New Delhi (PTI): Air India on Friday said Vistara routes and schedule as well as the in-flight experience will continue and the flights operated with Vistara planes will have the code 'AI2' post-merger.
The merger of the two full service carriers is scheduled to be completed on November 12, following which Singapore Airlines will have a 25.1 per cent stake in Air India.
Vistara is a joint venture between Tata Group and Singapore Airlines.
Post the merger, the vintage 'Maharaja' will be retained through the frequent flyer programme of the integrated entity.
"The existing members of Club Vistara will be seamlessly transferred to Air India's Flying Returns program. With this merger, Flying Returns will also evolve into an all-new avatar 'Maharaja Club'," Air India said in the statement.
Reiterating that the experience offered by Vistara will continue for customers post-merger, Air India said Vistara will be identified by a special four-digit Air India code beginning with the digit '2'.
"For instance, UK 955 will become AI 2955 helping customers identify them while booking... after November 12," the statement said.
Further, it said the routes and schedule operated by Vistara aircraft will continue to be the same, alongside the airline's in-flight experience that includes the product and service such as menu and cutlery on the Vistara aircraft.
There are concerns in certain quarters on whether Vistara passengers will continue to get the same services like now, post-merger as Air India, which is in the transformation phase, has been facing certain service issues in recent times.
Air India, on October 2, also said that Vistara experience will remain post-merger.
On Wednesday, Vistara Chairman Bhaskar Bhat said the integrated entity will share the best practices of the two airlines and the livery of Vistara will stay for sometime.
The Air India-Vistara merger, announced in November 2022, will also see Singapore Airlines acquiring a 25.1 per cent stake in the merged entity.
