The Punjab and Haryana High Court has said that marriage between first cousins is illegal. The court said that the marriage that the petitioner wants to celebrate with a girl, who is his first cousin, was also illegal per se.
“… the presentation in the present petition that when she (the girl) turns 18, is also illegal per se,” the judge said Thursday while listening to the petition. The claim came after a 21-year-old man appealed to the higher court against the state of Punjab for advance bond in a case registered under sections 363 (kidnapping), 366A (procuring a minor) of the IPC in the Khanna City-2 Police Station. in Ludhiana district on August 18.
The state attorney, although he objected to the declaration of bail, affirmed that the girl was a minor and her parents had presented the FIR since she and the man were first cousins and her parents were first brothers. The man’s lawyer told Judge Arvind Singh Sangwan that the petitioner had also filed a petition for a criminal order, together with the girl, for the protection of life and liberty.
The judicial file of the criminal order complaint was cited during the hearing and according to the memorandum of the parties, it was indicated that the girl was 17 years old and the petitioner had filed the complaint with the allegation that both were in a “live in relation “. The petition indicated that the girl’s date of birth was August 2003 and that on the date the petition was filed on September 3, 2020, she was 17 years and 14 days old.
Along with the petition, a representation was also attached, in which the girl had stated that her parents loved her children but ignored her, so she decided to live with her friend (petitioner) and for that reason, she apprehended that her parents could harass them and disturb the peace of your mind. The court resolved this petition on September 7. The state was ordered to grant them protection if any threat was perceived to the man and the girl. However, the judge clarified that “this order will not be taken to protect the petitioners (man and girl) from legal action for violation of the law, if any, committed by them.”
The judge, after listening to the lawyers of the parties in the present petition, said: “I find that in the present petition as well, the petitioner has not revealed the fact that he is the girl’s first cousin and, therefore, the The allegation in the present petition that when she reaches 18 years of age, they will marry is also per se illegal. ” Although he opposed the declaration of advance bail, the state attorney argued “that the girl was about 17 years old and is a minor, therefore her parents have registered the FIR as the young woman and the girl are first cousins since their parents are real brothers “. “.” Therefore, the petitioner has concealed the fact in the petition that they are included in the prohibited ‘sapinda’ (which prohibits marriage between two people if they have a common ancestor) under the Hindu Marriage Act and not they can get married, “said the state attorney, he argued.
“Once the petitioner and the girl are prohibited from marrying each other, there is no doubt that they are in a relationship, which is per se immoral and not acceptable in society, it was argued. The petitioner’s lawyer requested time. to the court to address the arguments and the case was postponed until January of next year.
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