Kerala HC adjourns viral Kumbh Mela girl’s anticipatory bail plea to June 2

Kochi: A high court bench of Justice Kauser Edappagath on Friday adjourned the anticipatory bail petition filed by the viral Kumbh Mela girl and her husband to June 2 and extended its earlier interim order restraining their arrest until then.The petitioners had approached HC, fearing that they would be arrested in a case filed by Madhya Pradesh police. The girl’s father had complained that his daughter was kidnapped and she was underage at the time of her marriage.Denying the allegations, the petitioners contended that they had met at a pooja 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, on March 11.Earlier, the director general of police of Madhya Pradesh 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 plea before the Kerala HC. On Friday, assistant solicitor general S V Raju appeared on behalf of the Madhya Pradesh DGP and submitted that since the victim belongs to a Scheduled Tribe community, the offence under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act would be attracted against the husband and, therefore, he was not entitled to anticipatory bail in view of the bar under Section 18 of the Act.