Madhya Pradesh High Court advises woman to 'postpone' marriage for pursuing academics after ordering her release from Woman's shelter home

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The division bench of Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Manindar Singh Bhatt at  Madhya Pradesh High Court has directed the release of a woman who was confined at Nari Niketan, facing opposition from her her family for wanting to marry outside of religion.

The petition was filed by the man in the equation seeking release of the woman from Nari Niketan. The petitioer and the woman want to get married. However, it is alleged that the parents of the woman are unable to approve of the marriage between corpus and the petitioner primarily because the petitioner belongs to a different religion and also that the woman is only i.e. 19 years of age and that she should prioritise completing her academic career over marriage. 

The Court held that the woman being an adult cannot be kept confined in Nari Niketan where she was lodged since last few days awaiting resolution of the dispute that arose between the petitioner, corpus and parents of corpus.

Further, the Court advised the woman to concentrate on her academics, stating, 

"Marriage is a concept which is though (sic) important in life but can very well be postponed and takes a backseat when pitched against the all important concept of education. The corpus is expected to pay heed to the aforesaid advice to gain sufficient maturity in life for understanding difference between right and wrong."

Faisal Khan v. State of Madhya Pradesh & Ors.