CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has come to the rescue of a twenty-year-old girl who was forced into marriage by her teacher who is about twenty years elder to her.
The court, using its extraordinary powers under Article 226 of the Constitution, revoked the registration of their marriage taking into account the ‘special circumstances’ and the ‘consent of the couple’ to separate and stay away.
“In view of the consent expressed by the petitioner and the detenue for annulling the marriage, we are inclined to set aside the registration of marriage made before the Registrar of Marriages at Puducherry in 2024 and the parties are at liberty to submit this order before the Registrar of Marriages at Puducherry for effecting necessary entries cancelling the marriage in the marriage register,” a division bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and V Sivagnanam said in a recent order.
The teacher approached the High Court with the heabeas corpus petition (HCP) praying for orders to the police to produce her before the court and direct her to go with him as she was kept under the illegal custody of her parents.
Accordingly, she was produced before the court along with her parents. She told the court she signed the marriage registration papers under compelling circumstances and without understanding the consequences.
She also told she was not willing to go with him and wanted to pursue higher education.
The petitioner, after realising his mistakes, agreed to give up the marriage relationship and promised not to interfere with the affairs of the girl or her family members.
The bench directed the Registry of the court to communicate the copy of the order to the Registrar of Marriages in Puducherry so as to make necessary entries in the register regarding cancellation of the marriage.