Adults Have The Right To Choose Their Own Partners, Regardless Of Their Religions

NAME OF THE CASE AND CORAM Case Name:

Shifa Hasan and Another Vs State of U.P. and Others

• Case Citation: WRIT - C No. - 16336 of 2021
• Coram: Hon'ble Manoj Kumar Gupta &Hon'ble Deepak Verma

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• An interfaith couple was being harassed by the daughter’s father on the basis of their religion.
• The court noted that both of them were majors.
• It was stated that the parents couldn’t oppose their relation on any basis.
• Rejecting the boy on the basis of his religion was incorrect since they were adults and they were liable for their own choices of partner irrespective of their religions.

CASE BACKGROUND

• A 24-year-old male, with his 19-year-old female partner, Shifa Hasan were living together out of love and affection.
• The father of the girl, was however unhappy with this relation because of the religion of the boy.
• They therefore filed an immediate petition asking for the protection of their life and their freedom.
• Shifa had then already filed an application for conversion from Muslim to Hindu.
• The district magistrate had also asked for the confirmation of ages of both of them to make sure they were not minors.

CASE PROCEEDINGS

• Allahabad High Court,for the couple residing in Gorakhpur, cited that adults had the right to choose their life partner regardless of their religion,
• The interfaith couple, residing in Gorakhpur, was granted protection from the harassment.
• The court further stated while disposing the petition that it must be taken care that the applicants are not harassed by the father or by another person within the context of their relationship.

CASE RELEVANCE

• It was put into words that it cannot be denied that two adults have the right to choose their spouse regardless of their religion.
• The request being a joint request of the two individuals who declare themselves in love and were majors,were considered competent to decide for their own future and therefore, in the legal opinion, no one, not even their parents, could oppose their relationship.

Hope you enjoyed reading this. You may now be able to answer the following questions, let us know in the comments section

• What do you understand by interfaith marriages?
• Do you believe that this judgement will pave way for more positive inter faith marriage beliefs?