Habeas corpus filed: Man moves Bombay HC after fiancee’s kin ‘stops him from meeting her’

A division bench of Justice A S Oka and Justice R I Chagla last week asked Additional Public Prosecutor Ajay Patil to bring the concerned officer before the court to appraise it of the steps taken in the case.

A 26-year-old man has filed a habeas corpus petition before the Bombay High Court, asking the court to direct the Mumbai Police to produce his girlfriend. In his petition, filed last month, the Malad resident said him and his 22-year-old girlfriend had decided to get married, but he has been unable to see her after her family came to know about the fact that he was physically challenged.

A division bench of Justice A S Oka and Justice R I Chagla last week asked Additional Public Prosecutor Ajay Patil to bring the concerned officer before the court to appraise it of the steps taken in the case.

The petitioner said his girlfriend had proposed to him on September 27, 2017, and he had accepted the proposal. The couple then decided to get married soon.

The woman had informed her father and other family members about being in a relationship and wanting to marry him, the petitioner said. The father of the woman visited the house of the petitioner on February 22, 2018, after which the man’s parents also visited the woman’s family.

During talks, he had informed the woman’s father that he was physically challenged on account of his leg, the petition said. However, after receiving this information, the woman’s father allegedly declined to go ahead with the marriage.

The petitioner further states that the woman’s father had beaten his daughter when she insisted on marrying him.

On March 1, when he visited the woman’s house, he was turned away by the woman’s father and other family members. He also alleged that they assaulted him.

The petitioner said the father of the woman allegedly took him to a police station to file a false complaint, but when police inquired with the woman, she admitted to being in relationship with the petitioner and said she was being forced to marry someone else.

The petitioner stated that the couple had decided to marry on March 8 or March 9, and the woman had given him her bank passbook, Aadhaar card and PAN card.

The petition further states that they were in contact through WhatsApp till March 5, and after that, since her father took away her phone, there had been no contact between them.

The man said he came to know that the woman was not in her house any longer, and that when he approached police, they refuse to take his complaint.