Allahabad High Court: A Single judge bench comprising of Kaushal Jayendra Thaker, J. partly allowed a civil writ petition directing no parental interference in the marital life of petitioner.
The petitioner’s case is that she and her husband are adults and living together out of their own free will. The private respondents – family members of the petitioner’s husband – who did not approve of their marriage, were constantly harassing and threatening them and as such a serious danger was posed to their lives. It is in this factual background that the petitioner preferred the instant writ petition praying for a direction to the private respondents to not interfere in her married life and also for the protection of her and her husband’s life and liberty. In order to lend credence to their averments, the petitioner submitted a copy of her and her husband’s Aadhar cards as proof of their age along with a copy of online application submitted to register their marriage.
Relying on the judgment of the Apex Court in Gian Devi v Superintendent, Nari Niketan, Delhi ,(1976) 3 SCC 234, the court observed that the law on the aforesaid factual matrix was no longer res integra and there were a catena of decisions holding that where a boy and a girl have attained the age of majority and are living together out of their own free will then nobody, not even their parents, has the authority to interfere with their liberty to live together.
The writ petition was disposed of holding that the petitioner was at liberty to live with her husband and that no person should be permitted to interfere in their peaceful living. In case any disturbance was caused in their peaceful living then the petitioners would have the liberty to approach the concerned police authority who shall provide immediate protection to them. Though no notice was issued to the private respondents, the court granted them liberty to file an application for recall of the present order in case the documents brought on record by the petitioner were forged or fabricated. [Shahin Bano v State of Uttar Pradesh,2018 SCC OnLine All 1346, decided on 20-09-2018]
