Right To Live With Dignity Includes Being Able To Fulfil Marital Vows Towards Spouse Taken During Saptapadi Ceremony: Rajasthan High Court

Rajasthan High Court has ruled that Article 21 includes the right to live with dignity as a human being which necessarily also entailed to act as a good husband in terms of marital vows taken during the saptapadi ceremony as per Hindu rituals.

The bench of Justice Arun Monga was hearing a petition by the accused who was in judicial custody for last 2 years in relation to multiple FIRs for offences of cheating and criminal breach of trust, all related to the Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society.

The petitioner was seeking interim bail for 3 months on medical grounds of his wife who was suffering from a serious ailment called radiculopathy requiring her to undergo immediate surgical intervention.

Since there was no one else in the family to provide pre and post-surgical assistance and support, she was not able to undergo the surgery without the accused. And delaying the surgery had the risk of exacerbating her condition, posing a significant risk to her life.

Given the paucity of time, the petitioner was not able to seek bail in each of the FIRs since the time taken in that process would have rendered the entire effort fruitless and hence the petition was filed before the Court.

The Court observed that the petitioner was a person with family ties and was not a flight risk. The nature of prosecution evidence against him were mostly all documents which were seized and there was no likelihood of any kind of tampering with the same.

Furthermore, it was opined that,

“Fundamental right enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, 1950, also encompasses right to live with dignity as a human being which necessary entails to act as a good husband in terms of the marital wows taken during the saptapadi ceremony as per Hindu rituals.”

Accordingly, the writ petition was allowed, directing the release of the petitioner on temporary bail for 60 days.

Title: Amar Singh Rathore v State of Rajasthan & Ors.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Raj) 321

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