Lucknow bench of Allahabad HC frees woman illegally detained by father over interfaith marriage

Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court observes an adult woman has the legal right to choose whom she wants to live with

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has observed that an adult woman has the legal right to choose whom she wants to live with. With this observation, the court set at liberty a major woman, who said she was illegally detained by her father after marrying a man of a different religion.

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court passed the judgment on September 11 and it was uploaded recently. (REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE )

Justice Subhash Vidyarthi passed the judgment on September 11, which was uploaded recently, while allowing the habeas corpus petition filed by the woman through her husband/next friend.

The court directed that she be set at liberty from her father’s custody, after she categorically stated that she wanted to live with her husband.

According to the petition, the woman came in contact with Gurpreet Singh through social media in February 2025. She left her parental home voluntarily on September 19, 2025, and began living with him in Noida.

The court noted that her husband follows the Sikh religion, while the petitioner is Hindu, and her family members were opposed to their relationship. The couple claimed to have married in a temple in Noida on November 4, 2025, and had since been living as husband and wife.

The petition stated that the petitioner’s family subsequently called her to her paternal home to tie ‘rakhi’ to her brothers, but she was thereafter detained by her father and other family members.

The petitioner allegedly sent messages to her husband complaining that her family members were assaulting and harassing her and asking him to rescue her. After his approach to the police did not succeed, the habeas corpus petition was filed.

The petitioner categorically stated before the court that she wanted to live with her husband and that her father was not permitting her to join him.

The father’s counsel opposed the petition, arguing that although the petitioner and her husband claimed to have married in a temple, they had not stated that ‘saptapadi’ was performed and, therefore, the marriage was not valid in law. (Saptapadi is a ritual in a traditional Hindu wedding, where the bride and groom take seven steps together around a consecrated fire).

The high court, however, held that those judgments arose from materially different factual circumstances. In those cases, the alleged wives themselves had disputed the validity of their marriages and had resisted the husbands’ claims to join their company.

The court said that, since the parties to the marriage did not dispute its validity, it could not examine the disputed question of ‘saptapadi’ raised by the father, against whom the petitioner herself had alleged illegal detention.

The court then made the crucial observation that even the question of validity of the marriage did not affect petitioner’s autonomy as a major woman.

The court said, “Whether the marriage of the detenue is valid or not, she having the age of majority, has the legal right to choose not to reside with her father and her father cannot force her to live with him.”

Accordingly, the court allowed the habeas corpus petition and directed that the petitioner be set at liberty from the custody of her father.