Mangaluru, May 22: The Karnataka high court has come to the rescue of a young married couple belonging to two different religions.
The court has not only quashed the FIR registered against the husband at the instance of the girl’s father but also directed the Mangaluru police to ensure that the couple is not harassed threatened by anyone.
Citing the rationale espoused by the Supreme Court in the Lata Singh and Ashok Kumar Todi cases, Justice A N Venugopala Gowda allowed a criminal petition filed by the youth of Bantwal in Dakshina Kannada district and quashed the complaint of the girl’s father under Section 366 (abduction) of IPC against the petitioner before a Mangaluru court.
The instant case is a classic example of mechanical registration of a case by Ullal police for the offense under section 366 of IPC.
The police action is an abuse of the process of law at the instance of the second respondent (girl’s father), who is annoyed by the marriage of his daughter outside his religion.
The FIR submitted to III JMFC, Dakshina Kannada, Mangaluru city, is against the law laid down by the apex court in the Lata Singh case and the same is liable to be quashed in entirety, the judge said.
Keeping in view the decisions in the Lata Singh and Ashok Kumar Todi cases, a direction is issued to police to ensure that neither the petitioner nor his wife are harassed or threatened nor any act of violence is committed against them. If anybody is found doing so, such persons should be proceeded against, in accordance with law, by the law enforcing authorities, the judge observed.
The petitioner working as a conductor fell in love with the then 19-year-old girl and first-year BBM student in a Mangaluru college. They married in Sullia on November 19th, 2014.
The couple also published the solemnizing of their marriage in a local newspaper. The girl then informed her father and police about their marriage.
In the meantime, the girl’s father registered a complaint with Ullal police who filed a case against the petitioner and three others under section 366 of IPC.
A habeas corpus petition was also filed before the high court seeking a direction to the police to produce the girl in court.
The girl appeared in court along with her husband on November 28th, 2014, and the petition was dismissed as misconceived.
