On Friday, 27th July, the Bombay High Court ordered the Mumbai Police to safeguard an interfaith newlywed couple who were concerned that the Gujarat Police might take the woman away. The court issued the ruling after consulting with both the man and the woman individually who married each other as per Muslim law.
During the hearing, the woman informed the court that she had married the man, who was already married with three children. She further stated that she married the man voluntarily and was not forced to be with him.
The bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Prithviraj Chavan heard a case filed by the couple when it said, “We direct that two armed guards be given to the petitioners 24×7, (12 hours each), who will accompany them wherever they go, until August 8, 2024.”
The judge further asked the Narol Police Station in Ahmedabad not to take coercive action against the petitioners until they are heard.
The man lives in Mumbai, while the woman left her home in Ahmedabad to marry according to Muslim law. However, after she left home, her family filed a missing notice, and her brother filed a theft case against her, alleging that she had fled with Rs 4,50,000 in gold jewelry and Rs 50,000 in cash.
Advocates ML Kochrekar and Mohammed Ahmed Shaikh, representing the couple, contended that the theft case was an afterthought, as it was filed after the couple sought protection from the high court.
The 24-year-old woman’s parents and brother, as well as Gujarat Police, were present in court. The woman informed the bench that she had not stolen anything when she fled her home on July 15th, 2024.
She also indicated that she was willing to give her parents the gold chain and earrings she was wearing. However, she refused to return to her parent’s home, even for a few days, and refused to look at them.
The woman had known the man for the past six years because he worked with her maternal uncle in a firm. She informed the court that she was aware that the man was married with three children, and despite this, she decided to get married to him.
The judges interacted with all of the parties involved, both individually and together. The judgment noted that there was a lot of “animosity between the parents against the petitioners,” and “in order to avoid any untoward incident,” the bench asked police to immediately protect the couple.
The Narol Police Station officials from Ahmedabad informed the bench that they were in Mumbai solely to record the couple’s statements and had no intention of returning them to Gujarat.
The bench directed that they could do this via videoconferencing.
