A bench of Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Arijit Banerjee was hearing a petition filed by a father alleging that his daughter aged 19 years had gone missing around 15 September 2020.
The Court held,
“If an adult marries as per her choice and decides to convert and not return to her parental house, there can be no interference in the matter.”
As per the report filed by the Office-in-charge of Murutia Police Station, the petitioner’s daughter Pallabi Sarkar had married Mr. Asmaul Shaikh and it also contained her statement which was recorded on 16 September 2020 that indicated that she had a relationship with Asmaul and was willingly living with him. Now, she did not want to come back to her parental home.
The Father of the Petitioner claimed in the Petition that the statement rendered by his daughter before the Judicial Magistrate Tehatta under Section 164 CrPC, was forceful and made against her wishes.
The Petitioner also said that he was not allowed to meet his daughter on the day when the statement was recorded. After this allegation by the father, Pallabi Sarkar and her father both were ordered to present before the Senior-most Additional District Judge and it was ensured no pressure should be there on Pallabi Sarkar at that time.
The Additional District Judge had furnished a proper report after the interaction of Father and Daughter, despite this, the father was still in suspicion. In the words of her father,
“I would not have doubted her intention had the marriage been formalized under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 that provides for inter-religious marriages, but she changed her religion and got married within 24 hours.”
The Court in furtherance of these incidents has ordered Pallabi Sarkar (now Ayesha Khatun) to meet Mr. Saibal Bapuli, Additional Public Prosecutor in Mr.Bapuli’s Chamber on 23 December 2020, and Mr. Bapuli was directed to file a short report. The matter will appear next on 24 December 2020.
