SATNAM SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present writ petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a writ in the nature of Habeas Corpus for immediate release of Parveen Kaur, daughter of the petitioner, who is alleged to be illegally confined by respondents No. 4 and 5.

(2.) Case of the petitioner is that Parveen Kaur alias Pooja is his daughter, who was born on 15.1.1995. In support of this, a reliance has been placed upon Birth Certificate (Annexure PI) issued by the Sub Registrar, Births and Deaths, Amritsar. It is pleaded in the writ petition that on the night intervening 3/4.10.2010, Parveen Kaur alias Pooja, daughter of the petitioner, was found missing from the house of her parents. All efforts, made by family of the petitioner, to trace out Parveen Kaur alias Pooja, proved futile. Later on, the petitioner learnt that his daughter had left the house with a boy named Kawaljit Singh, respondent No. 4. It is also an admitted case of the petitioner that respondent No. 4-Kawaljit Singh had solemnized marriage with his daughter Parveen Kaur alias Pooja and they had filed Criminal Misc. No. M-29456 of 2010 in this Court on 4.10.2010, a copy whereof has been annexed with the present writ petition as Annexure P2. In the petition, so filed, the newly married couple stated that they had solemnized -their marriage at Arya Smaj Mandir, Sector 22-B, Chandigarh. To prove the fact of their marriage, they had relied upon photographs also. In the petition (Annexure P2), Parveen Kaur alias Pooja stated her age as 21 years. It was further stated in the petition that since daughter of the petitioner and her husband belong to the different castes, therefore, their marriage was not accepted by father of Parveen Kaur alias Pooja. In the said petition, Parveen Kaur alias Pooja, daughter of the petitioner, had sworn an affidavit, in support thereof, and the same has been annexed as Annexure P3. She raised an apprehension therein that she may be the victim of honor killing. The above said petition was listed before learned Single Judge of this Court, who had issued notice for 8.12.2010 and an interim direction was issued that the petitioners, in the petition (Annexure P2), shall not be forcibly taken into custody by any of the respondents therein, on the allegation that daughter of the petitioner has been kidnapped by her husband. According to learned counsel for the petitioner, later on the said petition was dismissed as withdrawn.

(3.) On 18.1.2011, Parveen Kaur alias Pooja appeared in this Court and her statement was recorded by this Court, which reads as under: -