Allahabad HC Schools Parents For Opposing Daughter's Love Marriage

Allahabad High Court recently pulled up parents for opposing their daughter's love marriage and registering an FIR against their son-in-law. The court said that it is a "dark face of society" that parents still oppose their children's love marriages and resort to filing FIRs against their respective partners. Read on to learn more about this ruling. 

Details of the case

As per the reports, the court was hearing a petition filed by  Sagar Savita against whom criminal proceedings were pending in the court of Jalaun, in Orai. A case under sections- 363 (kidnapping), and 366 (kidnapping or adducing a woman to compel her for marriage) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 7/8 of the POCSO Act was registered against him by his wife's father. 

The petitioner-husband's counsel said that he had married the woman and was living with her as husband and wife. However, his wife's father filed an FIR against him and after an investigation chargesheet and a summon were issued against him. 

The court expresses anguish over the parents still not accepting their daughter's love marriage

Justice Prashant Kumar quashed all the criminal proceedings and said, "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 society’s pressure, do not approve of the marriage and go to the extent of filing an FIR 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 cases with his opponents on this score only”.

Moreover, the court invoked the apex court's judgement in the Mafat Lal and Another vs. State of Rajasthan case of the year 2022 and said, "This societal resistance is the greatest impediment in our society but the requirement of law is that when both 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 concluded by saying that since the couple is living happily, there is no point in prosecuting the appellant-husband.