The first time the court upheld this right was in April, when it restored Kerala woman Hadiya’s marriage to her Muslim husband.
New Delhi: A Hindu business management graduate from Chhattisgarh told the Supreme Court Monday that although she had chosen to marry her Muslim boyfriend, she wanted to momentarily return to her parents. Now, she will.
The case, involving the interfaith marriage of Anjali Jain (24) and Ibrahim Siddique (32), marks the third time within six months that a woman’s right to choose her partner has been upheld by the top court. The first was the landmark judgment restoring Kerala woman Hadiya’s marriage to her Muslim husband.
“Yes, uncle, I married him,” Jain told Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra when asked.
The woman admitted that she was not under pressure from her parents to return to them, but “needed time to think” because Siddique had failed to tell her “that he is a divorcee”.
The bench noted that the high court should not have sent the woman to the hostel.
Also read: Top court comes to the rescue of star-crossed Hindu-Muslim couple, defies parents
The Hadiya throwback
Siddique, an event management executive, and Jain of Dhamtari courted each other for three years before getting married earlier this year.
Siddique converted to Hinduism, taking on the name Aryan Arya, two days before the couple tied the knot on 25 February. The couple wanted to keep the marriage secret until Siddique had won the confidence of her parents, but they found out in June.
Fearing separation from Siddique, Jain decided to run away from her parents’ house to start living with him. However, her plan was foiled when police apprehended her while she was on her way and took her to a women’s shelter home.
When the couple got no relief from the high court, Siddique approached the top court.
In his plea, Siddique invoked the top court’s judgment in the case of Hadiya, who had converted to Islam before marrying Shafin Jahan and was detained by her parents, to press his point on the issue of dealing with the matter of private custody of an adult woman.
Siddique said that, instead of deciding the habeas corpus case filed by a husband for custody of his wife, who had been “forcibly detained by her parents”, the high court expressed their doubts about the legality of the marriage.
Interfaith couples
In the past six months, the Supreme Court has stepped in at least twice to assert the right of a woman to live with a partner of her choice.
In April, the top court declined a request to declare invalid a Hindu marriage that takes place without the bride’s consent.
The court observed that a bride’s consent was an inherent part of the Hindu marriage law, and that there was thus no room for a judicial declaration.
Also read: Before you cheer Hadiya judgment, spare a thought for what it did not say
On 9 April, the apex court made a compelling case for an individual’s right to choose their religion and marry a partner of their choice as it pronounced the judgment in the Hadiya matter.