Marriage Dispensation And The Best Interests Of The Child: A Judicial Analysis Of Urgent Reasons In The Purwodadi Religious Court

Abstract

This research examines the legal framework and judicial practices surrounding marriage dispensation (dispensasi kawin) in Indonesia, with a case study of the Purwodadi Religious Court in 2024. The study is motivated by the increasing number of dispensation applications despite the enactment of Law No. 16 of 2019, which raised the minimum age of marriage to 19 years, and the Supreme Court Regulation (Perma) No. 5 of 2019, which mandates that dispensations be granted only for “urgent reasons” and with due regard to the principle of the best interests of the child. Using a qualitative descriptive-analytical method with an empirical juridical approach, data were collected through field observations, interviews with judges and court officials, and an examination of court decisions. The findings reveal that while the legal framework seeks to restrict child marriage, in practice, 95.9% of dispensation applications in Purwodadi were approved in 2024. The predominant grounds for approval were premarital pregnancy, fear of zina (fornication), and strong socio-cultural pressure to maintain family honor. Judges often interpreted “urgent reasons” in a narrow sense, prioritizing immediate moral or social concerns rather than long-term considerations for the child’s welfare. Theoretically, this reflects a gap between the normative objective of legal protection—to uphold the rights and welfare of children—and the judicial application, which tends to reinforce cultural norms favoring early marriage. While judges’ decisions may align with Islamic objectives such as ḥifẓ al-nasl (protection of lineage), they risk undermining other maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah principles, such as ḥifẓ al-nafs (protection of life/health) and ḥifẓ al-‘aql (protection of intellect). This study concludes that the dispensation mechanism, though legally permissible, functions as a loophole that weakens child protection. Stronger judicial guidelines and cross-institutional collaboration are needed to ensure that the principle of the best interests of the child is consistently upheld in dispensation cases.