Court to interview Muslim girl

The 15-year-old Muslim girl, whom the police ‘rescued’ when she was about to be married, will be interviewed by the Bombay High Court on Monday.

The 15-year-old Muslim girl, whom the police ‘rescued’ when she was about to be married, will be interviewed by the Bombay High Court on Monday.

HT Image

The court will then decide if is safe to hand over her custody to her parents.

A division bench of Justice D.B. Bhosale and Justice A.R. Joshi will speak to the girl and find out whether she had been forced into the marriage.

Senior Lawyer Yusuf Muchchhala, who represented All India Muslim Personal Law Board, sought the girl’s release from a private children’s home at Andheri and that she be handed over back to her parents.

Muchchhala said that while the litigation is contested before the court, the girl was unnecessarily being punished. He added that the girl, lodged in a children’s home since she was rescued on December 10, was a school girl and her examinations are near.

Muchchhala said the parents are ready to give an unconditional undertaking that they would not marry her off till the time she turns 18 years.

The mother said in her petition that Muslims in India were entitled to marry on attaining puberty as per his or her choice and that freedom was integral part of their fundamental rights.

Her daughter was to marry Ghatkopar resident Arshad Akramuddin Haji Khan on December 10, 2009.

Just few hours before the marriage, the Ghatkopar police reached their Aurangabad house and took the girl in their custody. The police booked the girl’s mother, maternal aunt, the groom and his parents under provisions of Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.

The girl was lodged in the children’s home at Versova after she was produced before the Child Welfare Committee.