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Laxmibai Chandaragi B v. The State of Karnataka

Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2021 INSC 67Decided 8 Feb 2021
Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 359 of 2020
Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul · Justice Hrishikesh Roy

Background

Petitioner No.1's father filed a missing-person complaint in Karnataka when she went missing; investigation revealed she had flown to Delhi and married petitioner No.2, an NIT-Tiruchirapalli graduate, with both being adults and well-educated professionals. Despite the petitioner informing the investigating officer (IO) by phone and letter that she was married and feared returning due to threats from her family, the IO refused to close the case and pressured her to appear at the local police station, even hinting that a false kidnapping case could otherwise be registered against her husband. Unable to get relief from the Allahabad High Court for over a month, the couple approached the Supreme Court directly under Article 32.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court strongly deprecated the conduct of the investigating officer, holding that he could have recorded the wife's statement at her residence instead of coercively summoning her under threat of a false case against her husband, and directed that he be sent for counselling. Relying on earlier precedents (Shakti Vahini, Shafin Jahan, and the nine-judge Puttaswamy privacy judgment), the Court reaffirmed that the consent of family, caste, or community is not required once two consenting adults choose to marry, and that this choice is integral to dignity and liberty under Article 21. The Court quashed the FIR registered against the petitioners and directed the police authorities to frame training guidelines within eight weeks for handling such socially sensitive cases.

Lesson Learnt

Two consenting adults have an unqualified constitutional right to marry a person of their choice regardless of caste, community, or family objection, and police cannot be used as instruments of coercion by disapproving relatives, doing so invites judicial intervention and institutional reform directions.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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