Expressing serious concern over the rise in the number of petitions from runaway couples involving minors, the Punjab and Haryana high court has remarked that the customary, moral and ethical values of our heritage are being destroyed and the law being flouted in a very casual manner.
The high court bench of justice Sandeep Moudgil called upon advocates general of Punjab and Haryana and senior standing counsel of UT Chandigarh to assist the court in whether any standard operating procedure (SOP) could be put in place for an ‘effective dealing with such like representations’, received by police.
“Such a mechanism is also need of the hour, wherein, these petitions are on the rise with peculiar circumstances like the petitioners who are living in other states such as Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar etc. but are approaching this court for protection merely after creating a jurisdiction of this court by solemnising marriage at a place which is quite common in most of the petitions and if this issue is mechanically examined, would it not amount to abuse of process of law,” the bench observed seeking their views by January 29.
The court was hearing a matter in which a 23-year-old Panchkula-based woman in her plea filed on December 27 had claimed that an Unnao girl, her same-sex partner, was forcefully detained by her parents as they were against the girls living together. She had moved a plea demanding that she be produced in the court. Later, it came to light that the Unnao girl was a minor, who was stated to be 19 years old in the petition.
{{/usCountry}}The court was hearing a matter in which a 23-year-old Panchkula-based woman in her plea filed on December 27 had claimed that an Unnao girl, her same-sex partner, was forcefully detained by her parents as they were against the girls living together. She had moved a plea demanding that she be produced in the court. Later, it came to light that the Unnao girl was a minor, who was stated to be 19 years old in the petition.
{{/usCountry}}When the matter came to light, a government report stated that the minor girl’s Aadhar details were changed showing her as major after she had come in contact with the 23-year-old woman. Her date birth year 2007 was changed to 2004 on the Aadhar card, as per the documents produced by the government agencies in the court.
“…this case is a glaring example wherein, not only the customary, moral and ethical values of our heritage are being destroyed but even the parameters of law are also being flouted in a very casual manner...,” the court remarked referring to this case.
The bench further observed that the high court is being flooded with such petitions wherein, either the petitioners are seeking release of the minor despite the fact that the minor child is in the custody of biological parents are being filed that too by “strangers claiming themselves to be the next friend” or seeking protection to the life and liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
As per the court order, on average 80-90 petitions are being listed every day of such protection matters and in some cases, they are directly rushing to the court and filing such petitions after submitting a representation to the police authorities on that very day or subsequent.
“This precarious situation needs to be dealt with, as to why citizens in the country are feeling unsafe despite approaching the police authorities in time, which is an issue to be addressed as it is the primary and essential duty of law enforcing agency itself once an application/representation has been received, it should be dealt with in utmost urgency especially where protection of life and liberty is being sought,” it said, adding that under the directive principles, the state is duty bound to provide care and protection to each. But given the nature of litigation, the issue needed to be addressed with “utmost caution and urgency”.