AMNINDER KAUR Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A writ petition filed by a couple who eloped, to protect them from the threats levelled by their parents, was dismissed. The dismissal was based on the submission made by respondent No.4, the father of the 1st petitioner that the marriage asserted by the petitioners was punishable under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006. The 4th respondent lodged FIR No.235 dtd. 22/10/2009 under Ss. 363/366-A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) at Police Station Patran, District Patiala against petitioner No.2.

(2.) The impugned order of the High Court is challenged seeking consideration of three issues; as to, whether the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act would be applicable to the State of Punjab, whether the State is duty bound to protect the life and liberty of a couple who are being implicated in false cases at the behest of the girl's parents and whether the marriage between a 18 year old and 16 year old can be declared as illegal and invalid, especially when the girl has passed the age of consent.

(3.) We directed the learned Government Advocate to get instructions as to the present status of the petitioners. It is informed that the first petitioner has remarried twice and living happily with her present husband. There is, hence, no threat as of now and the question of the marriage being legal or not also does not survive. In this context, the applicability of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act also pales into insignificance, as far as the facts of this case are concerned.