New Delhi: The Supreme Court would on June 18 hear a plea of a minor seeking nullity of her marriage and protection from the threat to her life for protesting against child marriage.
A bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Manmohan will be hearing the plea of the minor who has also sought a direction against her husband for coercing her to marry him.
Her plea alleged she was married on December 9, 2024, when she was sixteen-and-a-half years of age, against her wishes. She claimed that she wanted to study further but she was kept under confinement by her father-in-law despite the promise of allowing her to return to her parents.
“The present writ petition...has been filed through next friend by sixteen-and-a-half year-old minor petitioner who is facing threat to her life for protesting against continuing in a child marriage solemnized under coercion against her wish to continue her education,” the plea said.
The minor claimed she was presently on the run with a friend and feared they would be killed if they returned to Bihar.
“The petitioner is a hapless victim of child marriage who stands forlorn with no help from family and society in her fight to walk out of the abusive child marriage and hence pleads for invocation of the parens patriae jurisdiction of this court in the best interest of the petitioner,” the plea added.
The minor said her parents got her married six months ago under coercion with a person aged around 32 or 33 and she was given a send-off immediately after the marriage ceremony despite the fact that her Class X board exams were round the corner.
She was reportedly assured that she would return to her parents two days later.
“However, she was not allowed to return to her parental home by her in-laws who claimed to have given and spent a lot of money for the marriage and repeatedly told her that they wanted a baby.