Uttar Pradesh
Allahabad HC rules in favour of UP interfaith couple
Allahabad/IBNS: The Allahabad High Court on Monday ruled in favour of an interfaith couple stating that the woman is an adult who "wants to live with her husband" and had the "right to live life on her terms".
The court also ruled that she is free to move as per her choice without any restriction or hindrance being created by a third party.
The court quashed an FIR registered against her husband in September in Uttar Pradesh's Etah district.
The two-member bench directed police to provide security for the couple till they returned home.
The FIR was filed by the woman's father who alleged his daughter had been kidnapped and forced into marriage.
According to reports, the two-member bench, consisting of Justices Pankaj Naqvi and Vivek Agarwal, spoke to the woman-Shikha-and confirmed from her that she married Salman of her own free will.
The judges also verified whether she had reached the age of majority by checking her school certificate where it is listed that her date of birth is October 4, 1999.
Making the ruling, the court slammed the Chief Judicial Magistrate of the district for handing the custody of Shikha to a Child Welfare Committee that, in turn, gave custody back to her parents "without any application of mind and against her wish."
Uttar Pradesh last month adopted an anti-conversion ordinance amid debate over "love jihad" - the right-wing conspiracy theory that Muslim men manipulate Hindu women to have them converted to their religion.
The Etah couple's case was filed before the anti-conversion ordinance was passed.
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