Partly allowed

Garima Pandey and Another v. State of U.P. and 3 Others

Allahabad HC8 May 2023WRIC/12398/2023

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Petitioners, adult adults living together, sought protection against threats from family members. The Court issued a liberty order allowing them to live peacefully without interference, conditioned on their registering their marriage within two months. The order does not adjudicate the validity of the marriage.

What did the court decide?

Liberty granted to petitioners to live together without interference; order void if marriage not registered within two months.

Garima Pandey and Another Vs State… — Constitutional and Fundamental Rights | Allahabad HC (2023)

¶1

Court No. - 90

¶2

Case :- WRIT - C No. - 12398 of 2023

¶3

Petitioner :- Garima Pandey And Another Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Ajay Kumar Barnwal,Sarvjeet Kumar

¶4

Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.

¶5

Hon'ble Syed Aftab Husain Rizvi,J.

¶6

Amendment application in supplementary affidavit filed by the petitioners is taken on record and is allowed.

¶7

Learned counsel for petitioners to incorporate necessary amendment during the course of the day.

¶8

Heard learned counsel for the petitioners and Sri S. Pathak, learned State Law Officer for the State-respondents.

¶9

Present petition has been filed by the petitioners claiming protection of their lives and liberty as they have married of their own free will and are adults and are living together. The averments made in the petition are supported by the joint affidavit of the petitioners. Further, it is stated that private respondent and other family members have got annoyed and there is serious danger to the lives of the petitioners as they are being threatened and harassed.

¶10

In support of their age, petitioner no.1 has brought on record her High School certificate wherein her date of birth is shown as 10.06.1994 and petitioner no.2 has brought on record his High School certificate wherein his date of birth is shown as 01.04.1989. Thus, it appears from the record that both the petitioners are major.

¶11

It is further stated that the petitioners have already applied for registration of their marriage.

¶12

The petitioners have averred in the writ petition that they are living as wife and husband. It is stated that they have apprehension that private respondent can eliminate them for the

¶13

honour of her family. In case this Court does not grant them protection, their lives may be endangered.

¶14

In view of the order proposed to be passed, there is no need to issue notice to private respondent. With the consent of learned counsel appearing for the parties, this writ petition is being disposed of finally at this stage in terms of the Rules of the Court.

¶15

The Supreme Court in a long line of decisions has settled the law that where a boy and a girl are major and they are living with their free will, then, nobody including their parents, has authority to interfere with their living together. Reference may be made to the judgements of the Supreme Court in the cases of Gian Devi v. The Superintendent, Nari Niketan, Delhi and others, (1976) 3 SCC 234; Lata Singh v. State of U.P. and another, (2006) 5 SCC 475; and, Bhagwan Dass v. State (NCT of Delhi), (2011) 6 SCC 396, which have consistently been followed by the Supreme Court and this Court, as well as of this Court in Deepika and another v. State of U.P. and others, 2013 (9) ADJ 534. The Supreme Court in Gian Devi (supra) has held as under:

¶16

"7. ... Whatever may be the date of birth of the petitioner, the fact remains that she is at present more than 18 years of age. As the petitioner is sui juris no fetters can be placed upon her choice of the person with whom she is to stay, nor can any restriction be imposed regarding the place where she should stay. The court or the relatives of the petitioner can also not substitute their opinion or preference for that of the petitioner in such a matter."

¶17

Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, I am of the view that the petitioners are at liberty to live together and no person shall be permitted to interfere in their peaceful living. In case any disturbance is caused in the peaceful living of the petitioners, the petitioners shall approach the Superintendent of Police, Ghazipur i.e. respondent no.2, with a copy of this order downloaded from the website of this Court, who shall provide

¶18

immediate protection to the petitioners.

¶19

A liberty is granted to the private respondent that if the documents brought on the record are fabricated or forged, it will be open to him to file a recall application for recall of this order. As registration of marriage is compulsory vide decision of the Supreme Court reported in (2006)2 SCC 578 and (2008)1SCC 180 Seema (Smt.) Vs. Ashwani Kumar , the petitioners undertake to get their marriage registered within a period of two months.

¶20

If the petitioners could not get their marriage registered within the stipulated period herein above, the protection granted under this order shall stand automatically vacated.

¶21

It is made clear that this Court has not adjudicated upon the alleged marriage of the petitioners and this order in no way expresses opinion about the validity of their marriage.

¶22

With the aforesaid observations, the writ petition is partly allowed. No order as to costs.

¶23

Order Date :- 8.5.2023 A.N. Mishra

¶24

Digitally signed by :- AMARNATH MISHRA High Court of Judicature at Allahabad

Garima Pandey and Another v. State of U.P. and 3 Others

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Garima Pandey and Another v. State of U.P. and 3 Others

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

A compact analysis

Issues for consideration

Cases cited

Parties & counsel

Coram

Case details

Similar cases

Manoj Kumar Vishwakarma @ Manoj Kumar Vs State of U.P. and 3 Others

Umesh and Another Vs State of U.P. and 4 Others

Smt Anjli and Another Vs State of U.P. and 3 Others

Devanand Vs State of U.P. and Anr.

Smt. Rakhi @ Rakhi Pal and Another Vs State of U.P. and 3 Others

Smt. Khushi and Another Vs State of U.P. and 3 Others