SH JITENDER KUMAR SHARMA Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Jitender Kumar Sharma and Poonam Sharma fell in love, eloped together and got married. The problem is that they are both minors:

(2.) Without any information to their respective families Poonam and Jitender ran away from their homes and got married according to Hindu rites and customs on 03.05.2010 at Shiv Mandir, Garima Garden, Sahibabad (U.P.). On that date itself, not knowing the whereabouts of Poonam and suspecting that she had gone with Jitender, Poonam's father (Shri Jai Prakash Sharma) lodged First Information Report bearing No.110/2010 at Police Station Gandhi Nagar, New Delhi under section 363 of the Indian Penal Code. Subsequently, when it was revealed that Jitender and Poonam had lived as husband and wife, section 376 IPC was also added. On 05.05.2010 a typed letter signed by Poonam was received at PS Gandhi Nagar in which she stated that she had married Jitender and requested that no case be registered on the complaints of her parents. On 06.05.2010, Jitender and Poonam were 'apprehended' from Bilaspur, District Rampur, U.P. Both were produced before the concerned court in Delhi. Jitender, being a juvenile, was sent to Sewa Kutir Bal Sudhar Ghar and Poonam was handed over to her parents. Poonam refused to undergo an internal medical examination and her mother also did not give her consent. In her statement recorded under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, Poonam did not state anything against Jitender.

(3.) On 12.05.2010, Poonam's father once again went to PS Gandhi Nagar to report that Poonam was missing from his house since 11.05.2010. Information was received that Poonam had gone to Jitender's house. The police reached there and took away Poonam for production before the concerned court where, on refusing to go with her parents, she was sent to Nirmal Chhaya. From there, she was, once again, taken by her parents to their home. It is pertinent to mention that Poonam had given in writing that she had left her parents' home of her own will and went to Jitender's house, as that was the house of her in-laws. It must also be pointed out that all this happened when Jitender, himself, was lodged in Sewa Kutir Bal Sudhar Ghar. Jitender was released on bail much later, on 03.06.2010.