NE NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, APRIL 12
The Gujarat High Court has directed the police to provide protection to an interfaith couple who want to get married against the wishes of the woman’s parents.
In an order passed last week, the division bench of Justices Sonia Gokani and Mauna Bhatt said the woman appeared before the court and expressed her wish to marry the man who is of a different faith. She said they were not desirous of changing each other’s faith.
Her mother had moved a habeas corpus seeking her custody after raising apprehension about her being kidnapped. The couple lived as neighbours and their family members were on friendly terms, but despite this the woman’s parents were angry over her decision and were not ready to accept their marriage, observed the court.
The couple are determined to move an application for marriage under the Special Marriage Act, 1954, the court said.
“The couple shall be escorted and both of them and the family of the respondent (man) shall be provided protection initially for a period of four months,” ordered the court. In case the couple continues to live in Ahmedabad, the police commissioner shall take a call after four months whether to continue such protection, it said.
