CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has dismissed a writ petition filed by a young couple seeking police protection to live together, observing that their plea appeared to be an attempt to circumvent the statutory minimum age for marriage.
The court, in a recent order, observed that both petitioners were around 20-years-old, but while the woman had attained the legal age for marriage, the man was still one year short of the prescribed age.
“Being conscious of the proposition of law that the boy has not attained the age of marriage as provided in the statute, the petitioners with a clever draftmanship, created an illusory story of living together without entering into a marital institution,” the two-judge bench of Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Chittaranjan Dash observed.
The petitioners had approached the court seeking protection for their relationship, claiming that their families had not accepted their decision to live together. They apprehended possible threats, coercion or other interference with their peaceful life and sought directions to the police administration to ensure their safety.
However, the bench pointed out that both petitioners had attained majority and possessed the intelligence to make decisions about their lives. The judges also emphasised that apprehensions alone, without supporting material, could not justify judicial intervention.
The high court further observed that a writ of mandamus or a similar direction could not be issued merely on the basis of apprehension or perception without corroborating evidence. It noted that the petition contained no specific allegation that either petitioner had been treated unfairly by their respective parents or had faced threats or physical assault.
“In absence of any such material, it would be a sheer wastage of time to entertain such writ petition based only on surmise and conjectures,” the bench said.