Stating that a Magistrate is “duty bound” to release an adult woman who refuses to stay in a shelter home, once she makes a request to be set at liberty, the Gujarat High Court directed the immediate release of a victim of alleged rape from a shelter home where she had been sent based on her submission before the government officer. As per the case before the Gujarat HC's division bench of Justice NSS Gowda and Justice UT Desai, the petitioner had filed a complaint on January 10, alleging rape, and appeared before the Magistrate in March. The court order notes that the petitioner had informed the Magistrate that she had no family to go to and that she did not want to go to her parents’ house. “Taking into consideration that she was produced before the Magistrate at about 8 pm, the Magistrate passed an order on March 30, 2025, directing the petitioner to be kept in the shelter home.” the September 19 oral order of the HC states. The petitioner, in her plea before the HC, stated that she had subsequently made an application to the Magistrate and requested to “be set at liberty”. However, the Magistrate passed an order rejecting her request and “(she) has been constrained to stay in the shelter home”, the order noted. Considering the petition of the woman, the HC order states, “In a given case, a Magistrate would no doubt have the power to pass an order to protect the safety and security of a woman by sending her to a shelter home. However, this direction to keep the woman in a shelter home cannot be indefinite and definitely cannot be against her will. Once a person who has been ordered to be kept in a shelter home makes a request that she be set at liberty, the Magistrate is duty bound to release the woman, more so, when the woman is a major and refuses to stay in the shelter home.” Stating that the order of the Magistrate “contravenes the fundamental right of the petitioner to lead a life of her choice”, the HC order says that the “observations made by the learned Magistrate would be inappropriate and unwarranted, given the fact that the request was made by the petitioner to be released from the shelter home, and more so, when she was not accused of any crime nor was she necessary for the purposes of any investigation.”
