Andhra Pradesh High Court Allows Habeas Corpus Petition Of A Husband In An Inter-Religious Marriage To Set His Wife At Liberty

The facts of the case were that an inter-religious marriage was performed between the petitioner and detenu as per the rites and customs of Christian religion against the will and wishes of the parents and other relatives of the detenu. Due to solemnization of their marriage, the parents and relatives of detenu bore grudge against them and started harassing with active assistance of Police authorities.

It was stated that the police authorities visited the house of the petitioner, manhandled his family numbers, including the detenu and forcibly abducted the petitioner's wife. The efforts of the petitioner and his family members in securing the presence of the detenu ended futile. The action of police authorities in detaining her was patently unsustainable and untenable. Hence, the writ petition.

The Court directed the official respondents to produce the detenu before the concerned Judicial First Class Magistrate. In compliance of the order, the police authorities had produced the detenu and on producing the same, the detenu stated that she was not willing to stay with their parents and reported that there was no safety to her life and that she was a major and wanted to live with the petitioner.

Both the petitioner and detenu were ready to live with each other. During the pendency of the writ petition, mother of the detenu wanted to be impleaded as the respondent in writ petition.

However, the Bench comprising of Justice Dr. K. Manmadha Rao and Justice Tarlada Rajasekhar Rao on considering the facts and submissions held that there was no need for interference of parents as the parties were major and wanted to live together.

The petitioner was directed to take the detenu back to lead a happy marital life. The Writ Petition was thus disposed of.

Case Title : Chunduru Karthik Versus The State of Andhra Pradesh

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (AP) 82

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