Adults have right to live with person of their choice: Allahabad HC
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Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court said that an adult has the right to travel anywhere and live with the person of their choice, Scroll reported citing Live Law.
The court in its judgement on June 7 also said that an adult person cannot be prevented from solemnising a marriage based on their will.
The bench comprising Justices JJ Munir and Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal ordered after hearing the plea of a 21-year-old woman who challenged FIR against her husband charged with abduction.
The woman’s uncle lodged a complaint after her wedding, following which the woman’s husband was arrested and the first information report was lodged in Uttar Pradesh’s Siddharthnagar district.
The woman was sent back to her uncle’s house despite she raised concerns of threat to her life there.
The woman and the man married in Telangana on April 17, and the Telangana State Waqf Board solemnised it by an authoritative certification on April 25.
The court made it clear that the woman and her husband have the right to live together or solemnise their marriage as they are adults.
The Article 21 of the Constitution ensures the right to life and personal liberty, it is reported.
Making it clear that woman’s uncle had no right to file a complaint regarding it, the court termed all proceedings in the matter illegal.
The High Court quashed the first information report against the woman’s husband.
“This matter has a slightly serious angle to it, because petitioner no.1 [the woman] in her statement under Section 164 CrPC [Code of Criminal Procedure], has expressed an apprehension that she would be done to death,” the order reportedly said.
It added further that “Honour killing in such matters is not an unknown phenomenon and it is very important to save a human life from extinction on account of misguided emotions or notions of morality.”
The bench said that the magistrate should have ensured the safety of the woman after she had told the legal officer that she had feared for life in the custody of her uncle.