Anju Devi & ANR. v. The Sho P.S. Inder Puri & ORS.
$~70 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + W.P.(CRL) 2561/2018 ANJU DEVI & ANR.
..... Petitioners Through:
Mr. Akash Nagar and Mr. Manohar Kumar, Advocates with Petitioners in person.
Versus
THE SHO P.S. INDER PURI & ORS.
..... Respondents Through:
Mr. Jamal Akhtar, Advocate with ASI J.
Singh, P.S. Inder Puri.
Mr. Arun Bhardwaj and Ms. Gauraav, Advocates for Respondents No. 3 and 4 with ASI Ramesh Chand, P.S. Kundri, District Kaithal, Haryana.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE NAJMI WAZIRI
O R D E R
% 29.08.2018 Crl. M.A.No.30994/2018 (for exemption) Allowed, subject to all just exceptions.
The application stands disposed-off.
W.P.(CRL) 2561/2018 The petitioners are legal adults. They have married each other of their own free volition in exercise of their constitutional right to do so. The petitioner No. 1 apprehends threat to her life, limb and liberty, as well as an assault on her husband - petitioner No.2, from her relatives, who are arrayed as respondents No. 5, 6 and 7. They are residing in Delhi and the address has been furnished to the Station House Officer (SHO) of the area concerned. The same shall not be disclosed to anybody by the police. The
petition is supported by an affidavit of petitioner No.1, who is 23 years old. She states that she has not been kidnapped, but has left her parental home in Haryana of her free volition; therefore, there could be no case of abduction or being kept in illegal confinement against anyone and least by her husband - petitioner No. 2, to whom she has married.
The learned counsel for respondents No. 3 and 4 i.e. the Haryana Police, states upon instructions, that in view of the above, the FIR registered by the Haryana Police at Police Station Kundri, District Kaithal, Haryana, would evidently be of no consequence. She states that the said FIR would become redundant, hence appropriate measures would be taken for its closure and no action would be taken against the petitioners. She further submits that the SHO concerned shall duly sensitize the respondents No. 5 to 7 to the need to maintain peace and to not take the law in their own hands, no matter how aggrieved they may feel by the petitioner No.1's deciding to choose a life partner of her free volition and that it is a constitutional liberty guaranteed to her and it ought to be accepted as nobody has a right to interfere in the same.
Furthermore, she assures the Court that every care would be taken to ensure that the petitioners are not harmed when they visit their hometown or anywhere in Haryana and that the Haryana Police will seek to coordinate the petitioners' travel in State. In the circumstances, the petitioners shall be provided due protection by the SHO of the area of their residence in Delhi. They will be interacted with and will be provided three telephone numbers of police officers including one of the 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.
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.
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 as well. The learned counsel for the Delhi Police as well as the Haryana Police state that no steps would be spared in compliance with the directions of the Supreme Court in Shakti Vahini vs. Union of India & Ors., 2018(4) JT 181.
No further orders are required.
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 under signature of the Court Master.
NAJMI WAZIRI, J.
AUGUST 29, 2018 sb