The Kerala High Court on Thursday, February 27, ordered police protection for an interfaith couple from Jharkhand who fled their state and sought refuge in the southern state after threats from the woman’s family and society members.
Fearing violence and potential “honour killing”, the couple Mohammad Galib and Asha Verma moved to Kerala early this month and married as per Islamic rites on February 11 in Alappuzha district’s Kayamkulam town.
The couple, who are natives of the Chitarpur town of Jharkhand’s Ramgarh district, had submitted a petition to Kerala HC seeking police protection and claiming that their family members, accompanied by Jharkhand police, arrived in Kerala to threaten them.
Asha Verma claimed she was coerced into making a false video recording in which she was pressured to say that Mohammad Galib had abducted her.
Based on the petition, the bench of Justice C S Dias issued the order to the police to ensure that the couple, who had been in a relationship for 10 years, wouldn’t be forcibly taken back to their home state.
Dias further stated that an adult couple has fundamental rights to live and marry freely anywhere in the country under the Indian constitution.
Earlier in December 2024, the Bombay High Court upheld a Hindu girl’s right to choose her partner and allowed her to continue her live-in relationship with a Muslim boy. The bench, consisting of Justice Bharti Dangre and Justice Manjusha Deshpande, observed that the girl was an adult and, therefore, even with opposition from her family and right-wing groups like Bajrang Dal, she was free to exercise her rights.
The court referred to a previous Supreme Court order and said that the court should not assume the role of a super guardian “being moved by any kind of sentiment of the mother or the egotism of the father.”
