‘No moral policing’: HC upholds rights of MP inter-faith couple to marry, live-in

The couple, living in Mumbai, was detained by a team of policemen from Jabalpur while they were on their way to collect their marriage certificate in Bandra on January 15, according to the petition. MP Police took them back to Jabalpur, after which Sahu’s family took her to Varanasi (UP) and illegally detained her there, it said.

Speaking to The Sunday Express, Khan said: “Soon after we got married, we sent three letters intimating not only both of our families but also one letter to the concerned police station (to notify their marriage). But even then, we were brought to Jabalpur and I was beaten up overnight. It was only the next morning that they handed Arti to her family while I was let go, but all my documents were taken by the policemen.”

Police officials in Gorakhpur denied the accusation. Station House Officer of the Gorakhpur police station, Archana Nagar, said, “We had gotten the two from Mumbai but they were handed to their family as per procedure. Why would the police beat them? They are not some hardened criminals. These allegations are untrue.”

Madhya Pradesh is among several BJP-led states that have enacted a law against forced religious conversions. The Madhya Pradesh Freedom to Religion Act, 2021 punishes forced conversion with jail term and mandates that anyone undergoing a religious conversion out of free will has to notify the district officer.

Khan approached the High Court on January 18. “After the way we were treated by the police, I lost faith in them. So I decided to approach the judiciary,” the 27-year-old, a mechanic by profession, said on Sunday.

Acting on the petition, Sahu (19) was produced before the single bench of Justice Nandita Dubey and she testified that she willingly converted to Islam and married Khan.

The prosecutor Priyanka Mishra, appearing for the police, opposed the marriage in the HC by invoking the anti-conversion law. Mishra argued that the law says no person can convert for the purpose of marriage and sought the court’s direction to send Sahu to Nari Niketan, a home for women.

Justice Nandita Dubey ruled against the prosecutor’s stand on January 28 and said: “Be that as it may, the petitioner and corpus both are major. No moral policing can be allowed in such matters where the two major persons are willing to stay together whether by way of marriage or in a live-in relationship, when the party to that arrangement is doing it willingly and not forced into it.”

The High Court also rejected the demand to send Sahu to Nari Niketan. “The corpus before this court has clearly stated that she had married the petitioner and wants to stay with him. The corpus is a major person. Her age is not disputed by any of the parties. The Constitution gives a right to every major citizen of this country to live her or his life as per her or his own wishes,” Justice Dubey said, directing both the public prosecutor and the police to ensure the couple’s safety.

Reunited, Khan and Sahu said they were leaving Jabalpur for a new beginning.

“I have been beaten up a lot, threatened and she has been tortured… why should we be scared anymore,” Khan said before taking a train on Sunday morning. He did not say where they were headed.