A Bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande declined to grant custody of the woman to her partner but addressed that she should be allowed to act according to her wishes.
Bombay: The Bombay High Court ruled on Friday (13th Dec) that a Hindu woman in a relationship with a Muslim man has the right to decide her own future, despite her parents’ claim that she was coerced into living with him. The police had moved her to a shelter home following these allegations.
A Bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande declined to grant custody of the woman to her partner but addressed that she should be allowed to act according to her wishes.
“We are setting her free… Let her choose what she wants. She believes it’s her life. We can only wish her well,”
the Court commented.
Addressing the arguments from the girl’s parents, who suggested that she was emotionally manipulated, the Court remarked,
“We had asked her to return to her parents… She isn’t ready. If she was aware of what’s best for her, there would be no issue. We had advised that she stay with her parents for another year, and the infatuation might fade.”
The court was hearing a petition filed by a 20-year-old Muslim man requesting the release of his Hindu partner from a government-run shelter home in Chembur. The woman, an adult, had voluntarily left her parental home to live with the petitioner but was later placed in the shelter by the police following a complaint from her parents.
In his habeas corpus plea(Art 32), the petitioner claimed that the woman was being unlawfully detained, violating her fundamental rights. The petition also sought police protection, citing threats to their lives. The petitioner alleged that the woman was being pressured and intimidated to abandon their relationship, despite her desire to marry him and refusal to return to her family.
Advocate Sana Raees Khan, representing the woman’s father, contended that the petition was not valid, as the petitioner had not yet reached the legal marriageable age of 21.
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The woman had been placed in a shelter home after complaints from her parents and others, including Bajrang Dal members, who opposed her relationship. In response, the police intervened and moved her to the Shaskriya Stree Bhishekari Khikar Kendra (Government Women’s Hostel) in Chembur.
The man then filed a petition in the High Court, arguing that the woman’s decision to live with him was voluntary, informed, and made without any coercion, undue influence, or external pressure.
