Supreme Court Questions Relevance of Two-Child Norm, Refers 2003 Judgment to Larger Bench

Key points

• The Supreme Court referred the 2003 Javed v State of Haryana judgment to a larger bench.
• The court noted India's total fertility rate has decreased from 3 in 2003 to 1.9 currently.
• Justice Narasimha stated that laws penalizing more than two children have lost relevance due to demographic changes.
• The court quashed the disqualification of Mangala Bhimrao, a former Sarpanch, under the Maharashtra Village Panchayat Act.
• The court emphasized that continuing such laws would exclude a significant portion of citizens from political representation.