The Allahabad High Court has condemned the family resistance to an adult woman's decision to marry a person of her choice and called such objections "despicable".
Providing protection to the 27-year-old woman who feared abduction, a bench of Justices J.J. Munir and Praveen Kumar Giri said the right to marry a person of one's choice is protected under Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty) of the Constitution of India.
The court was dealing with a petition moved by the father and brother of the woman (fourth respondent) seeking quashing of an FIR lodged by her under sections 140(3) (abduction), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and others of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at Chilh police station of Mirzapur district.
"It is despicable that the petitioners should object to the decision of an adult member of the family, a woman 27 years of age, about marrying a man of her choice. At least that is the right which every adult has under the Constitution by virtue of Article 21," the Bench said in its order dated June 13.
The court clarified that it did not know whether the petitioners i.e. woman's father and brother, "really intend to abduct" her but the matter reflected a larger societal issue, i.e., the "value gap" between constitutional and social norms.
