Kochi: The Kerala High Court upheld a woman’s right to marry the person of her choice saying that parents’ love and concern for the well-being of their child cannot restrict the right to choose a spouse when the child attains maturity.
A Division Bench of Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and PM Manoj ordered to free a 27-year-old woman from the custody of her father.
Her father detained her for being in relationship with the petitioner belonging to another religion.
The Court passed the order on June 3 in a Habeas Corpus plea filed by the petitioner, who is a Master's student in Germany.
The court in its order said: “Parental love or concern cannot be allowed to fluster the right of choice of an adult in choosing a man to whom she gets married.”
The petitioner claimed to be in intimate relationship with the woman who is a project engineer.
The petitioner said that the woman's father opposed their relationship due to religious differences and detained her.
When the court interacted with the woman, her father and the petitioner via video confidence, the woman said she was being detained by her father and expressed desire to live with the petitioner.
Referring to the Supreme Court ruling in the controversial Hadiya case, the court stressed the importance of individual’s independent choice, and freedom from unlawful restraint.
The court also averred the importance of respecting and protecting the individual’s choice as guaranteed by the Constitution.
Ruling in favour of the petitioner, the court allowed the woman to join the petitioner leaving the custody of her father.