Police doing ‘great disservice’: HC quashes FIR in consensual marriage case

Prayagraj: The Allahabad high court has quashed an FIR against a young couple from Saharanpur, who had married of their own free will, and said the police were doing a great disservice by registering FIRs and investigating such consensual marriages.

Coming down heavily on this disturbing trend, a division bench comprising Justice JJ Munir and Justice Tarun Saxena, in their order dated April 21, directed the director general of police (DGP), Uttar Pradesh to take remedial action.

With this, the high court quashed an FIR lodged against the couple-petitioners, stressing that no one has the right to tell a major where he or she will stay or with whom he or she will live, marry or spend his or her life.

The court added that a message should go out to every citizen that the age of majority has to be respected, and so also the constitutional culture.

A young adult couple had moved the high court, challenging an FIR lodged by the woman’s (18 years and 11 months) father against the man (who is also a major) under section 87 Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in Saharanpur. The section criminalises kidnapping, abducting or inducing a woman to compel her into marriage or force her into illicit intercourse. The woman had married the man willingly.

Upon receiving the report, the police lodged an FIR and began pursuing the couple.

Taking note of the facts of the case, as well as the marriage certificate issued by the Uttarakhand govt and filed with the petition, the court remarked that for a missing complaint, the police should not have lodged the FIR.

After interacting with the girl, who indicated that she wished to stay with her husband, the court termed the FIR a “serious inroad into personal liberty of both the petitioners”.

In a stern message to the father, as well as to the public, the high court stressed that the Constitution does not permit an adult, whatever the relationship, to dominate or rule over the will of another adult who is a major under the law.

Taking exception to the role of the police in similar cases, the court strongly remarked, “Of course, the case of a child, who is not a major, is different. The police are doing great disservice by registering FIRs such as these and more than that, chasing the young couple, sometime with ulterior motive to forcibly separate them and send back the bride to the parents or her family. These actions are illegal and some of them are offences.”

The court also issued a mandamus to the respondents, including the girl’s father, not to enter the matrimonial home of the petitioners or disturb their peaceful matrimonial life in any manner whatsoever.
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