HC reunites man with wife, stepdaughter kept in illegal custody by family

The Delhi High Court has reunited a man with his wife and minor stepdaughter, who were allegedly kept in illegal detention by the woman's family members in Uttar Pradesh.

In pursuance of the high court's direction, the woman and her seven-year-old daughter, from her first marriage, were produced before the court, which told her that she was a major and was free to go wherever she wants.

Justice Jasmeet Singh then told the man, ''They (woman and daughter) want to live with you. So you take them along from here itself.'' The court was hearing a habeas corpus plea filed on behalf of the man who sought a direction to the authorities to produce his wife and minor stepdaughter.

The woman told the court that she was married to the man and wanted to live with him along with her daughter and that she was being threatened by her family members who also beat her up.

To this, the judge told the woman's former father-in-law and her mother, who were present in court, that she was a major and was free to go wherever she wished to. The court also warned them of imprisonment if they did not mend their ways.

''You live in a society, what are you doing? There is no kingship here. She is a major and can go wherever she wishes to. If you continue to behave in this manner, you will be directly sent to Tihar Jail,'' the judge said.

The court said the woman was the legally wedded wife of the petitioner and she might proceed to live with him. It directed police officials to accompany her to collect her belongings from her former in-laws' house in Uttar Pradesh where she had been living.

The man, in his plea filed through advocate Anurag Pratap, had submitted that he was married to the woman, who was a widow with a girl child, in January.

The plea said the family members of the woman and her former in-laws were against her inter-caste marriage with the petitioner and that they have been threatening him.

It claimed that the woman's family had confined her since January.

A habeas corpus petition is filed for producing before a court a person who is in illegal custody or unlawful detention.

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