3 min readVadodaraFeb 17, 2026 01:17 PM IST
First published on: Feb 17, 2026 at 10:54 AM IST
The Gujarat High Court Monday directed a children’s home in the state to take custody of a 16-year-old girl, who refused to return to her parents, saying they were against her relationship with a boy of her choice, although the two were willing to wait to “attain marriageable age”.
A Division Bench of Justice N S Sanjay Gowda and Justice D M Vyas was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by the girl’s father, who contended that she had been illegally confined by six respondents, including the man she “wants to marry”.
Earlier, the court directed the state government to “secure the corpus (girl),” who was produced before the bench on Monday.
In its oral order, the court noted that the girl refused to return home and instead sought to be sent to a Nari Kendra until she turns 18. “The corpus states that she will be turning 17 in two days’ time and that she had voluntarily left the house since she was being tortured by her parents to get married to a person with whom she was not inclined to get married. She submits that the (six respondents) had not abducted her,” the order states.
“She, in fact, states that she wants to get married (one of the respondents), and since she is 17, she would wait for a year until she attains marriageable age. She also states that (the youth) are not yet of marriageable age and that both of them will marry after they attain marriageable age,” the order said.
The court noted that it had given the girl and her mother, who was present in court, time to interact and attempt reconciliation. However, they were unable to resolve their differences. The court observed that the girl remained firm in her decision not to return with her parents.
The court declined the girl’s request to stay with one of the petition’s respondents, stating that “(he) is not in any way related to the corpus or her family.”
Allowing her to stay at the children’s home, the court order stated, “Since the corpus, who will turn 17 in two days’ time, is unwilling to join her mother, we have no other option but to permit her to stay at the Children’s Home… The children’s home shall release her after she turns 18.”
The court order also directed the police to take the girl to record a statement before a magistrate under sections of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), since an FIR had been registered in the case on the complaint of the girl’s father. The habeas corpus petition of the father was accordingly disposed of.
Gujarat High Court orders minor girl to be placed in children’s home after she refuses to return to parents amid dispute over relationship. (File) 
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