Laxmi Meena & ANR v. State Of NCT Of Delhi & ORS
$~24 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + W.P.(CRL) 974/2018 & Crl. M.A. No.6035/2018 LAXMI MEENA & ANR.
..... Petitioners Through:
Ms. Ansha Varma, Advocate with Petitioners in person.
Versus
STATE OF NCT OF DELHI & ORS ..... Respondents Through:
Mr. Jamal Akhtar, Advocate with SI Rakesh Yadav, P.S. Vasant Vihar.
Mr. Shishir Raj, Advocate (M.9810323240) Respondent No. 2 in person.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE NAJMI WAZIRI
O R D E R
% 30.07.2018 The petitioners have been granted protection in terms of this Court's previous order dated 09.07.2018.
According to the Status Report submitted today on behalf of the State, the petitioners have been provided with three telephone numbers of the police officers. The Station House Officer of the area, where the petitioners reside, shall ensure that the telephone number of a lady police officer too shall be furnished to them. These numbers shall be kept operational at all times so that any exigency can be intimated on either of the numbers by the petitioners. The Court is assured by the learned counsel for the State that any message received on the said numbers or on any other telephone number of the police either by way of a telephone call or SMS shall be immediately responded to. Additionally, the Beat Constable/Division Staff of the area
shall regularly visit the residence of the petitioners on a daily basis and report the same in the Roznamcha. The safety and security of the petitioners shall be assessed by the SHO on a weekly basis with due endorsement of the same in the Roznamcha. The Beat Constable shall record entries in his Beat Book.
Respondent No.2 - father of the petitioner No.1 is present in the Court. He does not have a counsel to assist him. Accordingly, Mr. Shishir Raj, Advocate present in the Court is appointed as his counsel for the day. The latter submits upon instructions that his daughter - petitioner No. 1 is an adult and has married of her own free volition, and there is no threat either to her or her husband from him or his relatives and she is free to live her life at her own terms.
The learned counsel for the State submits that respondent No. 2 has been duly sensitized about the petitioners' right to live a life according to their choice and nobody has a right to interfere in the same. The learned counsel for the petitioners submits that petitioner No. 1's School Leaving Certificate, Mark Sheets of class 10th and 12th, other documents and belongings are still at her residence, however, the same is declined by respondent No.2. She is free to take recourse in law for the recovery of the same and to apply with the relevant institutions for duplicate copies thereof.
The learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the petitioners have been receiving threatening calls from their relatives and there is fear to their life, limb and liberty. For young people like the petitioners, who marry each other of their own free volition, without the blessings of their parents, it cannot be ruled out that out of fear to their life and limb, they ordinarily lead
a peripatetic life, till such time that appropriate protection is provided to them by virtue of a judicial intervention.
In the circumstances, the Station House Officer (SHO) concerned shall look into the matter, assess the threat to the petitioners and accord them due protection. The address of the petitioners shall not be disclosed to anybody by the police. Should the petitioners shift their address to the jurisdiction of any other Police Station in Delhi, the same protection shall be granted to them by the SHO of the subsequent Police Station also. Should the petitioners have any grievance apropos the nature and adequacy of the protection provided to them, they would have the liberty to take recourse to law.
No further orders are required, at this stage. The petition stands disposed-off in terms of the above. A copy of this order be given dasti to the learned counsel for the parties.
NAJMI WAZIRI, J.
JULY 30, 2018 sb