Right of youth to choose their spouse, High Court judgment on inter-religious marriage

Lucknow, Ta. 24 November 2020, Tuesday

Amidst the controversy over love jihad across the country, the Allahabad High Court has handed down a landmark judgment on inter-religious marriage, saying young people have the right to choose their spouse. The law allows two adults to live together.

Salamat Ansari and Priyanka Kharwar, who live in Kushinagar, Allahabad, got married against the wishes of the family. After the couple got married according to Muslim custom, Priyanka converted to Islam and became Alia.

After that, Salamat and Priyanka alias Alia went to the High Court and sought quashing of the police complaint. On the other hand, Priyanka's father said that conversion to marriage is prohibited and that is why the marriage is not legally valid.

However, the court said that Priyanka alias Alia as well as Salamat were not seen by the court as Hindu-Muslim and were seen as two young men. The constitution gave them the right to be with anyone they wished. It could not be interfered with.

At the same time, the court said that whether the daughter wanted to meet the father or not would depend on the will of the father. However, the court hoped that the daughter would deal with the family properly.