The court has observed that “No moral policing can be allowed in such matters where the two major persons are willing to stay together whether by way of marriage or in a live-in relationship.“Moral police is an umbrella category of vigilante groups that act to enforce a code of morality in India.
The Hindu woman, 19, got married to a Muslim man and is willing to stay with her husband. The girl’s family forcibly detained her in Banaras, her hometown after which her husband, Guljar Khan filed a petition. At first, the court had turned down the petition stating that the marriage was a violation of the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act 2021. The woman had married the man and had converted willingly.
The wife had appeared before the court via video call and had agreed that she was never forced into conversion. She also confirmed that her family had forcibly taken her to Banaras and was beaten up and threatened to give a statement against her husband. She begged the decision-makers to provide her and Guljar with justice.
The court denied the opposition and led to favour the couple saying that both are majors and the marriage has happened with consent even the girl’s age is not disputed by any parties. “The corpus is a major person. The Constitution gives a right to every major citizen of this country to live her or his life as per her or his own wishes. Under the circumstances, the objection raised by the counsel for the State and her prayer to send the corpus to Nari Niketan is rejected,” the court order stated. The court has also ordered the concerned party to let the woman free and to make sure that she and her husband reach their house safely and has directed the police to make sure that they are not harassed. Advocate SK Raghuwanshi appeared for the petitioner.
