Court No. - 4
Case :- HABEAS CORPUS WRIT PETITION No. - 3435 of 2018 Petitioner :- Nandani And Another Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Yogesh Kumar,Neeraj Kumar Srivastava,Priyanshu Kumar Srivastava Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.
Hon'ble Bala Krishna Narayana,J. Hon'ble Ravindra Nath Kakkar,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioners and learned A.G.A. for the respondents no.1 to 3 and 5. None appears on behalf of respondent no.5 Following order was passed by this Court on 29.08.2018 :- "Seen the office report dated 27.08.2018.
Service on respondent no. 4 is deemed to be sufficient in view of the provision of Chapter VIII, Rule 12 Explanation (II) of the Allahabad High Court Rules.
It is contended by learned counsel for the petitioners that although petitioner no. 1, Smt. Nandani (detenu) is major and legally wedded wife of petitioner no. 2, Deepak Gupta yet she is being illegally detained in Nari Niketan, Meerut against her wishes and hence, a writ of habeas corpus be issued directing respondent no. 5, Superintendent of Nari Niketan, Meerut to produce the corpus of the detenu Smt. Nandani before this Court and set her at liberty.
Notice on behalf of respondent no.1, 2, 3 and 5 has been accepted by the learned A.GA.
Issue notice to the respondent no. 4, Ajay Kumar, fixing date 24.09.2018 for her appearance.
List this case on 24.09.2018.
On that date, respondent no. 5, Superintendent of Nari Niketan, Meerut, District- Meerut shall produce the corpus of the detenu Smt. Nandani before this Court in person.
A copy of this order shall be provided to learned A.G.A. within 24 hours."
In compliance of order dated 29.08.2018, the detenue Smt. Nandani was produced before us by S.I. Dharmendra Kumar and Lady Constable Anju Rani, Police Station Khurja Nagar, District Bulandshahr.
On being quizzed by the Court, she stated that she is major as she is 19 years old. She further stated that she had left her parental home on her own accord and solemnized marriage with petitioner no.2 Deepak Gupta voluntarily and no-one had either kidnapped her or forced her to marry petitioner no.2 – Deepak Gupta. She further stated that her date of birth in High School is incorrect and her age determined on the basis of her radiological examination report is correct. She also stated that she has no intention to return her parental home and desires to live with petitioner no.2 Deepak Gupta as his wife.
Her statement has been recorded on a separate sheet in the Court today which has been signed by petitioner no.1, Smt. Nandani (detenue).
Learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that since as per her radiological report, she is major, her detention in Nari Niketan against her wishes is per se illegal.
Per contra, learned A.G.A. has submitted that the detenue, Smt. Nandani, as per her High School Certificate, is minor. Accordingly, the detenue, being minor, cannot be set at liberty or allowed to go with her husband, i.e. petitioner no.2.
In rejoinder, learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that in view the latest pronouncement of the Apex Court in the case of Suhani and another Versus State of U.P. and others rendered in Civil Appeal No. 4532 of 2018 arising out of SLP (C) No. 8001 of 2018 decided on 26.4.2018, Smt. Nandani (detenue), on the basis of her radiological report, can safely be said to be major on the date of incident.
After hearing learned counsel for the parties present, the statement of the detenue recorded before us, in view of the age ascertained in her radiological report, copy whereof has been annexed as Annexure 9 to the writ petition, and in view the latest pronouncement of the Apex Court in the case of Suhani (supra), we hold the detenue to be major.
The detenue has unequivocally stated before us that she has no intention of returning with her father - respondent no.4.
Thus, in view of the foregoing discussions, we find that petitioner no.1, Smt. Nandani is major and since she has admitted the factum of the marriage with the petitioner no.2, Deepak Gupta before us, we find that she cannot be detained in Nari Niketan even for a moment against her wishes.
This habeas corpus writ petition succeeds and is accordingly allowed.
Petitioner no.1, Smt. Nandani is set at liberty forthwith to go wherever she desires.
There shall be however no order as to costs.
Order Date :- 24.9.2018 Anand Sri./-