The Delhi Police has been asked to explain to the Delhi High Court why they kept a man in police lock-up for three days in a case of interfaith marriage.
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The Delhi Police has been asked to explain to the Delhi High Court why they kept a man in police lock-up for three days in a case of interfaith marriage.
In its order, a two-judge bench of Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Vinod Goel also pulled up the police for forcibly keeping the interfaith couple apart despite knowing that the woman, an adult, had married the man of her own free will.
The woman, a 21-year-old Muslim, married the man, a Hindu, in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad on 28 June, 2018. According to reports, the two started residing at the man’s residence at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus in New Delhi.
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The man was forcibly picked from JNU by policemen and JNU security personnel on the night of 3 July following a missing-person complaint filed by the woman’s brother at Loni police station in Ghaziabad. He was taken to the police station and kept in custody till 5 July.
In its order, the court asked the Delhi Police to explain how it proceeded to act on the complaint received from the woman’s brother despite knowing that she was an adult and entitled to take her own decisions.
The man alleged that he was abused and beaten in custody and threatened he would be implicated in a false case of rape if he tried to reunite with his wife. He filed a habeas corpus with the court seeking the wife’s whereabouts.
The woman, who was allowed to reunite with her husband, confirmed before the judges that she married the man of her own choice. Her mother told the court that it would be up to her daughter to decide what she wanted to do with her life.
To prevent any untoward incident hereafter, the court also directed the police to provide security to the couple as well as their family. Further hearing in the case will be held on 7 August.
(With inputs from agencies.)
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