Be brave like Malala; no need to always act as per parents' wishes: Kerala High Court advises young woman

The proceedings before the Kerala High Court on Friday witnessed an interesting exchange between the bench and a woman in a habeas corpus case, with the bench advising the lady to "jump into life bravely", like Nobel Peace Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai.

The habeas corpus plea that came up before bench comprising Justices Alexander Thomas and Sophy Thomas was moved by a man alleging that his wife and their 11-month-old child were being illegally detained by his wife's parents.

When the 21-year-old Hijab clad wife appeared on Zoom to converse with the bench, she was absolutely firm that she wished to go with her child and reside with her husband.

In response to queries by Justice Alexander Thomas, she said that even though her parents were not in favour of the couple taking the marriage forward, she was standing up for what she wished to do now.

Justice Alexander Thomas then asked Justice Sophy Thomas, "Who was the young girl that got the noble prize? She looks like that."

Then turning to the woman, Justice Alexander Thomas said,

"Be brave like Malala. Jump into life bravely. No need to always do as your parents wish"

After both the petitioner-husband and the wife submitted that they wish to reside together and upon going through the reports from their counselling session and other material on record, the Court closed the petition after recording the couple's submissions.

However, before the hearing ended, Justice Alexander Thomas advised the young woman to continue her studies as she had not pursued it after clearing her 12th standard exams.

"Why don't you join Indira Gandhi National University or some other correspondence course?," the judge asked.

"I wish to study. I want to do an MBBS degree. I will be going to study in Georgia. My admission and everything is already arranged," she replied.