'No Business to be Nosy Parkers': Allahabad HC Imposes Costs on UP Police For Probing Couple Who Married Out of Free Will
New Delhi: The Allahabad high court recently slammed the Uttar Pradesh police for continuing to investigate the marriage of two adults despite both of them contending that they have married out of their own free will.
A division bench of Justices J.J. Munir and Tarun Saxena on Monday (July 27) observed that the police have “no business to be nosy parkers” in such matters, reported The Hindu.
“The carrying on of this investigation into an adult’s free choice of her partner and the marriage between two major citizens of the country is not only an abuse of process of criminal law, but also gross violation of their fundamental right to liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution,” said the high court.
The couple had moved court after the police had filed an FIR against the woman’s husband on the basis of a complaint from the woman’s father who alleged that the man had “enticed his daughter into marrying him.”
However, both the petitioners said that they married out of their own free will and the police were trying to separate them unlawfully despite the fact that the woman had unequivocally chosen to live with her husband.
“The liberty that a person, who is a major, enjoys, includes the liberty to marry a person of his/her choice. The police have no business in the matter to be nosy parkers. We have repeatedly reminded the police that it is no business of theirs to investigate marriages. They ought to investigate crimes. This is no crime where any investigation is required,” said the high court, reported The Hindu.
The court, after finding merit in the couple’s allegation that the police were siding with the woman’s father, imposed costs on both the police authorities and the complainant.
The court ordered the Superintendent of Police and the Station House Officer to jointly pay Rs 1,000 to the woman petitioner, while her father was ordered to pay Rs 5,000.
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