NEW DELHI: The Uttarakhand High Court has directed police to provide protection to a young couple who alleged that the woman’s family had threatened them over their marriage, observing that the husband’s age at the time of marriage cannot, by itself, be a ground to deny them protection.
The couple approached the high court seeking police protection, claiming that the woman’s family opposed their marriage and had threatened to kill them. Their counsel informed the court that both were adults and had married on March 24, 2026.
According to the woman’s school records, she was 19 years and six months old at the time of the marriage. The husband’s school certificate showed that he was 20 years old.
In their petition, the couple alleged that members of the woman’s family had issued threats to kill them, stating that they feared for their lives and had therefore sought the court’s intervention.
Counsel appearing for the woman’s family opposed the petition, arguing that the husband had not attained the statutory marriageable age of 21 years and, therefore, the marriage was not legally valid.
The couple’s counsel, however, argued that even if the husband had not reached the prescribed marriageable age, the marriage would, at most, be voidable and not automatically void.
Justice Alok Mahra noted that an earlier bench had directed the couple to appear before a court counsellor. The counsellor’s report stated that the woman did not wish to return to her parents and was happy living with her husband.
Relying on the Supreme Court’s judgment in Lata Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh (2006), the court held that the couple had established a case for protection.
The court directed the Station House Officer of Buggawala Police Station in Haridwar to assess whether the couple faced any threat to their lives and, if such a threat existed, to provide them with appropriate police protection.
It also instructed the officer to summon the woman’s family members and any other persons opposed to the marriage and counsel them in accordance with the law.
The petition was subsequently disposed of with these directions.
