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Synopsis

The Allahabad High Court recently held S.P. Siddharthnagar and the Station House Officer of Police Station-Bansi, Siddharthnagar, personally accountable to the court if they fail to ensure the safety of a 21-year-old woman who received death threats from her family after marrying a man of her choice.

The division bench of Justices J.J. Munir and Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal noted that after the woman eloped from her home, her uncle filed an FIR against her partner. However, the woman, in her statement recorded under Section 164 CrPC, clarified that she left home voluntarily and willingly went with her partner, and they later got married as per Muslim rites.

The court highlighted that in her statement, the woman had specifically expressed fear for her life if security was not provided. 

Court stated, "Honour killing in such matters is not an unknown phenomenon and it is very important to save a human life from extinction on account of misguided emotions or notions of morality. This issue is quite independent of the issue of matrimony that the parties have entered into. No citizen can kill another for holding a different opinion and it is the foremost duty of the State to preserve human life."

Court stressed that even if the petitioners had not married, no one can restrain an adult from going anywhere they choose, staying with a person of their choice, or solemnizing marriage according to their will.

"This right flows from Article 21 of the Constitution," court said. 

Further, court expressed dismay at the conduct of the Magistrate who, despite the woman's statement that she feared for her life at the hands of her uncle, reportedly sent her back home to her parents.

The Magistrate was duty bound to get an FIR registered against the person threatening the woman besides taking adequate measures to secure her safety and life, court opined. 

Therefore, while pointing out that the woman's statement under Section 164 CrPC was recorded in the case diary, court held that it made the Superintendent of Police, Siddharth Nagar, and the Station House Officer, Police Station-Bansi, District-Siddharth Nagar, equally accountable for failing to take appropriate action by registering an FIR and safeguarding the life and security the woman.

Accordingly, court issued a mandamus to the S.P. Siddharthnagar and the Station House Officer, Police Station-Bansi, District-Siddharthnagar to ensure that the woman goes wherever she likes and stays with whomsoever she wants, without any hindrance from her uncle or any of her family members. 

Apart from that, court quashed the FIR lodged against the woman's partner (now husband) by her uncle.

Case Title: xxx   v. State Of Up And 2 Others