Kerala HC adjourns Kumbh Mela girl’s anticipatory bail plea

Kochi: A high court bench of Justice Kauser Edappagath on Tuesday adjourned the anticipatory bail petition filed by the viral Kumbh Mela girl and her husband to May 29 and extended its earlier interim order restraining their arrest until then.

Both petitioners approached HC in connection with a case registered against them by the Madhya Pradesh police on a complaint filed by the girl’s father, alleging that his daughter had been abducted and that she was underage at the time of her marriage on March 11. Denying the allegations, the petitioners contended that they had met at a puja ceremony conducted in Kerala in connection with a new Malayalam film, fallen in love, and decided to live together. Accordingly, their marriage was solemnised at the Sree Nainar Deva Temple at Arumanoor in Thiruvananthapuram.

During the earlier hearing, the Madhya Pradesh DGP challenged the maintainability of the petition, contending that since the case was registered in Madhya Pradesh, the petitioners ought to have approached the Madhya Pradesh HC instead of filing the petition before the Kerala HC. It was also argued that the petitioners could only seek transit anticipatory bail from the Kerala HC to enable them to approach the Madhya Pradesh HC, and not regular pre-arrest bail. However, the petitioners submitted that copies of the FIR had not yet been provided to them, preventing them from properly challenging the case.