Pankaj Kumari And Another vs State Of Uttarakhand & Others

Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J

1) In this petition, the petitioners have prayed for the following reliefs :

“i) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing and commanding the respondent Nos. 1 and 2 to provide adequate police protection to the petitioners from the respondent Nos. 3 and 4, who want to do away with the life of petitioners in the name of family honour as petitioners have performed inter caste marriage against the wishes of respondent Nos. 3 and 4 and other family members of petitioner No. 1.

ii) Issue any other order or direction which this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper in the circumstances of the case.”

2) The case of the petitioners is that they belong to different castes and were living in the same vicinity thereby got acquainted to each other, and after falling in love decided to get married.

3) According to the petitioners, the parents of petitioner No. 1, i.e., respondent Nos. 3 and 4 respectively, and other family members of petitioner No. 1, never accepted their relationship and are constantly harassing and pressurizing petitioner No. 1 to marry with a person of their choice, but she is reluctant to do so.

4) According to the petitioners they got married with each other as per the Hindu rites and customs and, thereafter got registered their marriage before the Registrar, Compulsory Registration of Marriages, Haridwar-I, Haridwar on 22.06.2022. According to the Aadhaar cards filed by the petitioners as Annexure Nos. 1 and 2 to this writ petition, both the petitioners are major. It is stated that respondent Nos. 3 and 4, who are against the marriage of the petitioner No. 1 with petitioner No. 2, on coming to know about the said marriage, threatened the petitioners with dire consequences and warned to forcibly took away petitioner No. 1 with them. According to the petitioners, they submitted a representation before the Senior Superintendent of Police, Haridwar, seeking adequate safety and security for themselves, but no action has been taken by the police for protecting the lives and property of both the petitioners. Having been left with no other remedy, the petitioners have filed the present writ petition.

5) In that view of the matter, we hereby dispose of the writ petition by directing the Senior Superintendent of Police, Haridwar, respondent No. 1, to take a decision on the representation of the petitioner (Annexure No. 4) within 30 days from today. The Senior Superintendent of Police, District Haridwar shall take information and intelligence from the concerned SHO during the course of action whether police protection is required or not. In the interregnum, the SHO, Police Station SIDCUL, District Haridwar – respondent No. 2, shall provide necessary police protection for protecting the lives and liberty of the petitioners.

6) Interim Relief Application (IA No. 01 of 2022) also stands disposed of.

7) Let a free copy of this order be immediately handed over to Mr. J.S. Virk, learned Deputy Advocate General for the State of Uttarakhand, for early compliance.

8) Urgent copy of this order be supplied to the learned counsel for the parties, during the course of the day, as per Rules.