Court No. - 4
Case :- HABEAS CORPUS WRIT PETITION No. - 47491 of 2017 Petitioner :- Smt. Sangeeta And Anr. Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 4 Ors. Counsel for Petitioner :- Puneet Bhadauria Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.,Anil Kumar Bind
Hon'ble Bala Krishna Narayana,J. Hon'ble Ravindra Nath Kakkar,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioners, learned A.G.A. for the State and Sri Anil Kumar Bind, learned counsel for the respondent no.5.
In compliance of orders dated 10.09.2018 and 13.09.2018, the detenue Smt. Sangeeta was produced before this Court by Constable 138 Manisha Yadav and Constable 773 Om Pakash, Police Lines, Etawah.
On being quizzed by the Court, she stated that her date of birth is 01.01.1997 and she is more than 21 years. She further stated that she had left her parental home on her own accord and solemnized marriage with petitioner no.3 Amit Kumar @ Shivam voluntarily and no-one had either kidnapped her or compel her to marry with petitioner no.3 - Amit Kumar @ Shivam. She also stated that she had no intention to return her parental home and desires to live with petitioner no.3 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. Sangeeta (detenue).
Learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that since as per her date of birth recorded in pariwar register and her ossification test report, she is major, her detention in Nari Niketan against her wishes is per se illegal.
Per contra, learned counsel for the respondent no.5 has submitted that the detenue, Smt. Sangeeta is minor and in support thereof he has invited our attention to two documents, copies whereof have been brought on record as Annexures CA-1 and CA-2. The first document is Scholar's Register & Transfer Certificate Form, issued by the Head Master of Puttu Lal Gomti Devi Shiksha Sansthan, Farrukhabad and the other one is enrollment list of High School Examination, 2016 in which the name of detenue appears at serial no.5. The date of birth of the detenue recorded in these documents is 10.10.2002. Advancing his submissions, learned counsel for opposite party no.5 submitted that in view of the above the detenue, being minor, cannot be set at liberty to go with her husband, i.e. petitioner no.3.
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. Sangeeta (detenue), on the basis of her ossification test 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 ossification test report, copy whereof has been annexed as Annexure 8 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 had unequivocally stated before us that she had no intention of returning with her mother - respondent no.5.
Thus, in view of the foregoing discussions, we find that petitioner no.1, Smt. Sangeeta is major and since she has admitted the factum of the marriage with the petitioner no. 3, Amit Kumar @ Shivam 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.
Petition no.1, Smt. Sangeeta is set at liberty forthwith to go wherever she desires. There shall be however no order as to costs.
Order Date :- 17.9.2018 Anand Sri./-