The Allahabad High Court recently took note of the rampant practice of parents disapproving of their children’s love marriages and even filing FIRs against grooms under social pressure. This, the report said, exposed the “dark underbelly of our society” and said “social threats” remain prevalent even after 75 years of independence.

Justice Prashant Kumar, while hearing a plea in a criminal case filed by a woman’s father against her husband, said: “This is a clear case of the dark side of our society. Even today, when children themselves get married, their parents force Due to pressure from family and society, she still disagreed with the marriage and even filed an FIR against the boy.”

The court expressed its “deepest anguish” and said this social menace was so deep-rooted that “even after 75 years of independence, we are still witnessing such cases”.

“This is the biggest hurdle in our society; but the requirement of law is that when both parties agree and are now living happily as husband and wife with a child, there will be no hurdle in accepting the marriage,” the court said while referring to the Supreme Court decision in Mafat ruling in the case. Lal and Another v. State of Rajasthan (2022).

Referring to another judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Shafin Jahan v. Asokan KM (2018), the High Court said: “The Supreme Court has always respected the liberty of individuals who have attained the age of majority.”

The court dismissed the case against the applicant, stressing that he and his wife lived happily together and that prosecuting him served no purpose. The man moved the high court under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code, seeking directions to quash the entire proceedings in the case registered against him under Sections 363 and 366 of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the POCSO Act. .

His counsel stated that the applicant and his wife lived happily together as a married couple. This was supported by the wife’s lawyer. Furthermore, they stated that the entire case was filed by the father of the wife who was not satisfied with the marriage.