The Gujarat high court on Wednesday reunited a man with his pregnant wife. The couple belonged to different caste and the girl’s family had objected to their marriage. The couple were married legally and were provided police protection after marriage.
While reuniting the couple in Palanpur court in Gujarat upon the woman’s wish to join her husband, the bench of Justice Sonia Gokani and Justice N V Anjaria observed,
“The caste system in the country is making it more and more difficult for young people to decide their own life partner and the rigidity in the minds of adults in the family becomes the serious cause of the division of human relationship.
It is also making it extremely difficult for the administration to handle this social and emotional upheaval which eventually turns into a legal battleground.”
The court observed so after the woman’s mother threatened to commit suicide if her daughter preferred to go with her husband. The court felt that the girl’s family members were not agreeable to the union because the man was from a different caste.
In this case, the couple had approached the high court for protection from the wife’s family members after getting their marriage registered in January. On February 10, the high court ordered Banaskantha police to provide protection to the couple. But they were separated when they visited a relative’s place in Rajasthan.
The husband lodged a complaint of abduction against his in-laws at the Gadh police station in Banaskantha, but when he felt that there was no development in the matter he filed a habeas corpus petition for custody of his wife. The woman was produced before the HC through video conferencing form Palanpur district court.
After completion of the hearing, the HC asked additional sessions judge Robin Mogera to ensure that the couple safely reaches their home. The judge has also been asked to refer the case to the mediation center for reconciliation between the woman and her family members. The HC ordered police protection for the couple for the next four months and asked the district superintendent of police to extend it further if required.
Also read: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47823588
