New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday declined to entertain a plea of the parents’ of a woman seeking criminal action against her partner claiming that she was a minor when she got married.
The matter came up before a bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar. The bench rejected the plea of the parents saying "A child is not a chattel".
The bench said the girl was not a minor at the time of marriage and added that because the parents did not accept the marriage an FIR was lodged against the partner of the woman.
“You don’t have the right to imprison … You do not accept the relationship of your major child. You treat your child as a chattel. A child is not a chattel,” said the CJI.
The bench said the parents should accept the marriage of their child and pointed out the discrepancies in the date of birth certificate submitted by the parents of the woman. The bench made it clear that it was not keen to take the matter any further.
“We are not inclined to interfere with the High Court order,” said the bench.
In August, a bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court at Indore quashed an FIR against a resident of Mahidpur in a case involving the alleged abduction and sexual assault of a minor. The father claimed that his 16-year-old daughter had gone missing and a man abducted, lured, and kidnapped his daughter.
The father lodged an FIR under various provisions relating to kidnapping and other offences. The High Court noted that the girl was major.
