Guwahati: The Delhi High Court rejected a request for protection on behalf of a couple who were married without the girl’s parents’ permission after hearing that under Muslim law, any female who has reached puberty can get married without their permission.
Observed Justice Jasmeet Singh: “According to Islamic law, a female who reaches puberty has the legal right to wed without her parents’ permission and the freedom to live with her spouse even though she is still a minor. The husband is exempt from the POCSO’s restrictions.”
The court further stated that if a girl is happily married and is doing so of her own free will, the state has no business interfering in her private life.
The bench was hearing to a couple’s appeal who were married on March 11. Parents claim that when the couple was married, the man was 25 years old and the woman was 15 years old.
The Court stated that “doing the same will amount to the State invading one’s personal space.”
A case alleging kidnapping of the youngster was filed by the girl’s parents in Dwarka district on March 5 under sections 376 of the Indian Penal Code and section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act.
Following this, the pair filed a petition with the High Court in April asking for police protection and a ruling that no one should separate them. Her attorney presented her Adhar Card at the court, proving that she is older than 19 years old. However, the girl’s attorney informed the court that she eloped with the man with her own free will and consent and is now pregnant.
The girl also informed the court that her parents sought to forcefully get her married to someone else and that they beat her on a regular basis. On April 27, the police took the girl back from the man’s care. She appeared before the committee on child welfare (CWC). She was to remain at the Nirmal Chhaya compound, according to a directive from CWC.
“It is thus clear that that as per Mohammedan Law, the girl who had attained the age of puberty could marry without the consent of her parents and had the right to reside with her husband even when she was less than 18 years of age and thus otherwise a minor girl,” observed justice Singh in an order of August 17, 2022, which was released on Monday.
The court reads, “In this case, the petitioners were in love, got married according to the Muslim laws and thereafter had a physical relationship”.