Allahabad High Court pulls up parents for not accepting daughter's love marriage, filing FIR against son-in-law

The Allahabad High Court recently expressed anguish that there were parents in India who would still go to the extent of filing false criminal cases to oppose a love marriage entered into by their child without their approval..Justice Prashant Kumar observed that this is a "dark face of society", while dealing with one such case where the parents of a woman had filed a first information report (FIR) accusing her husband of kidnapping her."This is a clear case of the dark face of our society. Even today, when children who marry on their own their parents under their family and societies pressure do not approve the marriage and go to the extent of filing F.I.R. against the boy. The court after hearing the parties, records its deepest anguish, whereby this social menace is deep rooted that even after 75 years of independence we are fighting the cases with his opponents on this score only," the Court said. .The Court was hearing a plea filed by a man who was accused of having kidnapped his wife. The criminal complaint filed by the wife's father also accused the man of having committed the offence of sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act)..The counsel for the accused man submitted that after their marriage, he and his wife were residing together as a married couple. The lawyer added that the wife's father lodged the criminal complaint because he disapproved of the marriage. These submissions were supported by the counsel representing the wife, who said that she had married the accused and that they were leading a contented life together. She added that the case was filed because her father did not approve of her marriage. These submissions were not contested by the State counsel..The Court proceeded to quash the criminal case against the accused man. Relying on the Supreme Court judgment in Mafat Lal & Anr v State of Rajasthan, the High Court added that,"This is the greatest impediment in our society but the requirement of law is that when both the parties have agreed and now they are happily residing as husband and wife with their small kid, there cannot be any impediment in accepting this marriage." .The Court also reiterated the Supreme Court's observation in the Hadiya case and highlighted that the top court has "consistently respected the liberty of an individual who has attained the age of majority.".With these observations, the Court allowed the plea by the accused man (applicant) and quashed the case against him. "Since the applicant and the opposite party no.3 (wife) are living together happily as husband and wife, no useful purpose would be served in prosecuting the applicant," the Court said. .Advocate Ajay Sengar represented the applicant.Government Advocate Akshay Raj Singh represented the State, and advocate Satya Prakash Chaturvedi represented another respondent. .[Read Order]