Anshika Gautam & ANR v. State Of NCT Of Delhi & ORS

$~64 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + W.P.(CRL) 2540/2018 ANSHIKA GAUTAM & ANR ..... Petitioners Through:

Mr. Vinay Kumar Sharma & Mr.Prince Sharma, Advocates versus STATE OF NCT OF DELHI & ORS ..... Respondents Through:

Ms.Purnima, Advocate for Mr.Avi Singh, ASC with SI Harinder, P.S.

Mundka

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE NAJMI WAZIRI

O R D E R

% 28.08.2018 Petitioner No. 1 and 2 are 19 and 21 years old, respectively. They have married each other of their own volition and have got their marriage registered before the Registrar of Marriages, Sadar-I, Ghaziabad, U.P. on 21.08.2018. Since their marriage is without the consent of the family members of petitioner No. 1, they apprehend threats to their life and liberty from respondent Nos. 2 and 3, i.e. respective fathers of petitioner Nos. 1 and

2. Insofar as the petitioners have a constitutional right to choose their life partner and to live freely in terms of law, nobody can interfere in their making such choices.

Issue notice.

The learned counsel for the State accepts notice and assures the Court that the matter shall be looked into by the SHO of the area concerned and

the respondents will be duly sensitized to maintain peace as well as to the fact that the legal adults have a right to make their own decision in choosing a life partner and the parents cannot interfere in the exercise of such right. Additionally, the petitioners shall be provided with telephone numbers of three police officers from the jurisdiction of the concerned Police Station of which one shall be a lady police officer. These numbers shall be kept operational at all times so that any exigency can be intimated on either of the numbers by the petitioners.

It is further stated 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 for a month. The Beat Constable shall record entries in his Beat Book. The petitioners shall furnish their address in Delhi to the SHO concerned. The learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the petitioners are residing at the address of petitioner No. 2. They may not have been at the said address when the Police visited them.

It is understandable that young couples, who marry each other not necessarily with the blessings of the parents of the girl, ordinarily live in fear and lead a peripatetic life till such time as protection is granted to them either through the State or by a judicial order. In any case, the Investigating Officer shall interact with the petitioners in the Court premises during the course of the day and assure them of their full safety and security.

No further orders are required at this stage. The petition stands disposed-off accordingly. A copy of this order be given dasti to the learned counsel for the parties under the signature of the Court Master. NAJMI WAZIRI, J AUGUST 28, 2018 rd