The Allahabad HC today ruled that there is no denying that two adults have the right to choose their own marriage partner regardless of their religion.
The bench comprising Justice Deepak Verma and Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta observed in the petition filed by Shifa Hasan who is 19 years old and her male partner who is 24 years old who claimed to be in love and that they were living together out of their own will.
However, they argued that since they were from different religions they were not accepted by the girl’s father, they therefore immediately applied for a plea seeking the protection of their lives and freedom.
The girl had already applied for conversion from Islam to Hinduism on February 17, 2021, and in the application, the District Magistrate asked that a report be submitted from the concerned police station stating that both of them are major.
In addition, the report stated that the man’s father was not in favour of marriage and that his mother had no problem with the same. It was also revealed that both of the girl’s parents disagreed with their marriage.
In this backdrop, while dismissing the plea, the court directed the third respondent to ensure that the petitioners are not subject to any harassment by respondent no. 5 (girl’s father) or by any other person in connection with their relationship. The Court thus observed:
“There is no denying that two adults have the right to choose their own marriage partner regardless of their religious identity. As the current petition is a joint petition submitted by two individuals who claim to be in love with each other and are also major in age, therefore in our view, no one, not even their parents, can challenge or object their relationship.”
