“We don’t see Priyanka-Salamat as Hindu-Muslim”- UP Court gives epic verdict
A 14-page order passed on November 11, 2020Judges Vivek Agarwal and Pankaj Naqvi made strong observations on the two previous orders by different judges in the same court in similar cases of inter-faith marriages.
Lucknow, 24/11: The Allahabad High Court canceled a case filed against a Muslim man by the parents of his wife. The woman had converted to Islam to marry the man and her parents had in turn filed criminal cases against the man. “Interference in a personal relationship would constitute a serious encroachment into the right to freedom of choice of the two individuals,” the court observed in a verdict. This verdict comes at a time when the Government of Uttar Pradesh is pushing laws against inter-faith marriage, naming it “love jihad“.
“We do not see Priyanka Kharwar and Salamat Ansari as Hindu and Muslim, rather as two grown-up individuals who – out of their own free will and choice – are living together peacefully and happily over a year. The Courts and the Constitutional Courts, in particular, are enjoined to uphold the life and liberty of an individual guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” said a two-judge bench consisting of Justices Vivek Agarwal and Pankaj Naqvi.
Priyanka Kharwar, married Salamat Ansari, a resident of east UP’s Kushinagar, against her family’s wishes in August 2019, and had converted to Islam just before the wedding. Priyanka’s parents had filed an FIR(First Investigation Report) against Salamat, accusing him of “kidnapping”, and “abduction to compel a marriage” as well as the stringent POCSO(Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act), claiming that Priyanka was a minor when she got married.
On November 11, 2020, the Allahabad High Court ruled on Salamat’s petition to get the FIR against him canceled. “The right to live with a person of his/her choice irrespective of religion professed by them is intrinsic to right to life and personal liberty,” the High Court said in the 14-page order, rejecting arguments by the UP government as well as the woman’s parents.
The judgment comes at a time when the Bhartiya Janta Party(BJP) ruled states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and Haryana are considering heavily the implementation of laws to stop “love jihad”, a derogatory term used by the rightist groups to describe the marriage between Hindu women and Muslim men, in a ruse to forcibly convert them to Islam.
Citing a Supreme Court order from a similar case which happened some years ago, which stated, “Religious conversion – just for the purpose of marriage – is not acceptable”.”None of these judgments dealt with the issue of life and liberty of two mature individuals in choosing a partner or their right to freedom of choice as to with whom they would like to live. We hold the judgments in Noor Jahan (2014) and Priyanshi (September 2020) as not laying good law,” the High Court judges said.
