Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi
New Delhi, Jun 18: The Supreme Court has stepped in to protect a 16-year-old girl from Bihar who was forcefully married to a 33-year-old man and is now facing threats for refusing to continue the coerced union.
On Wednesday, a bench of Justice Ujjal Bhuiyan and Justice Manmohan issued a notice to the Bihar government and directed the Bihar police to provide full security to the girl and her friend. The friend is currently facing an FIR for alleged kidnapping after he helped her escape and go into hiding. The Supreme Court has requested a report in a sealed cover by July 15.
The girl's petition seeks the annulment of her marriage under the Child Marriage Prohibition Act, 2006. She states that her parents, under duress, married her to a civil contractor, aged 32-33, on December 9. Despite her impending Class X board examinations, she was immediately sent to her in-laws' house. There, she was not allowed to return home, with her in-laws citing the money spent on the marriage and pressuring her to have a baby.
According to the petition, filed by her friend through advocate Gyanant Singh, her husband claimed her parents were indebted to them, and she would have to remain in the marriage, abandoning her dreams of becoming a teacher or a lawyer. The plea further alleges that her husband "mercilessly beat" her daily for refusing physical intimacy.
Under severe stress, she was eventually allowed to return home for her board exams in January, where she successfully cleared her matriculation. However, as her in-laws began pressuring her parents to send her back, she sought help from her friend. On March 31, she ran away from home, initially going to Varanasi with her friend. They have been on the run since their location was traced.
Meanwhile, the girl's family has filed a kidnapping case against her friend, his father, mother, and maternal uncle. The petition highlights that her friend's family members are being tortured and threatened to ensure he abandons her. It also states that her friend's father has been arrested based on these "false" allegations, which the girl believes is an attempt to force her friend to betray her and return her to her family and in-laws.
The girl also claims that her husband has threatened villagers by saying "he would not mind going to jail after killing her." The petition argues that the state machinery has failed to protect her as mandated by The Prohibition of Child Marriages Act, 2006.
Advocate Abhishek Rai represented the petitioner in the Supreme Court.