Woman Gets SC Nod To Stay With Parents, Not Husband

On Monday, the Supreme Court of India permitted a Chhattisgarh woman to stay with her parents. The 23-year-old Jain woman said that she prefers to be with them, and not her husband.

Her husband had voluntarily converted to Hinduism from Islam to tie the nuptial knot with her.

Supreme Court Accords Primacy

Ibrahim Siddhiqui, who changed his name to Aryan Arya after conversion, had filed a Habeas Corpus petition. Siddhiqui had alleged that his in-laws had deprived his wife, Anjali Jain, from meeting him.

When Jain was brought before the court, the bench -- comprising CJI Dipak Misra along with Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud -- posed some queries before her to ascertain her wishes. They asked her whether the marriage “actually” took place, and “why don’t you want to live with your husband”.

In response, Jain said she is an adult and had married Arya willingly. But, she wanted to live with her parents. She also said that it was her own choice, and that she was not coerced by anyone. The bench considered her statement. It also modified the Chhattisgarh High Court order on the matter. Earlier, the HC had asked her to either go with her parents or stay in a hostel.

The judges said, “She has categorically stated that she does not want to go with her husband and wants to go back to her parents. In view of the aforesaid, we permit her to go back to the parents. We refrain from commenting on the marriage. As she is major, she is entitled to take her decision as to where she wants to go.”

The apex court also said it would not get into the legality and validity of the marriage. It would be dealt with by the competent courts.

Unusual Love Story

On February 23, 2018, Ibrahim Siddhiqui, converted to Hinduism and took the name Aryan Arya to marry Anjali Jain. They got married at the Arya Samaj Temple in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, on February 25, 2018, in traditional Hindu rituals.

“I told her that I didn’t want her to convert and wanted her to remain what she was. I told her I would do it, because we had anticipated trouble,” Siddhiqui told The Indian Express.

Siddhiqui said, “We completed the rituals and went to a magistrate. But she didn’t want to leave her family just yet, but in three months after she visited her grandmother in Madhya Pradesh.”

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Siddhiqui said that met Anjali in 2015, when she was a BCA student at Genesis College. He worked there as a sound engineer. “By 2016, we had fallen in love. I had always told her that I had been married once in 2013, and divorced a year later. She knew everything.”

In the first week of July, the man filed a Habeas Corpus Petition before Chhattisgarh HC. He claimed that Anjali was being illegally detained.

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Megha Thadani is an Intern with Shethepeople.tv