At a time when Hindutva outfits are making an effort to create issues like ‘love jihad,’ the Allahabad high court has slammed the Uttar Pradesh administration for getting in the way a young Hindu woman from marrying a Muslim in Amroha district.
Kanchan Verma and her friend, Nasir Ali were detained under Section 151 (breach of peace) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Kanchan was sent to Nari Niketan and Ali who was sent to judicial custody was later released on bail.
According to reports, the sub-divisional magistrate ordered an immediate release of a woman, who was detained for a month in Amroha’s Nari Niketan (women’s shelter), after her parents, who were opposed to the marriage, staged a protest outside her school where she is a teacher.
While the couple reportedly knows each other for the last 12 years, her family opposed their relationship because of religious differences.
Criticizing the SDM’s order, Justices Amar Singh Chauhan and Tarun Agarwala ruled that no adult can be restrained from exercising their right to choose their life partner.
Terming the freedom of choosing one’s life partner as the ‘most personal liberty,’ the judges termed the magistrate’s order as unconstitutional.
The constitution in India allows people to live, mingle, move, befriend, date, live with or marry people no matter what their religion, cast or creed. Such curtailment of civil rights cannot be tolerated.
The woman was ordered to be escorted to her parent’s house and it was declared that she was free to pursue her further course of action.