Kolkata: Adult citizens of the country have a right to choose their life partner, the Calcutta High Court on Monday ruled while directing the inspector in charge of Uluberia Police Station to give protection to an interfaith couple for marriage.The bride, a Hindu woman aged 31, and the groom, a Muslim man aged 34, moved the single bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya, seeking adequate police protection for registering their marriage on July 29. Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya held: “It is a case of interfaith marriage since petitioners are adult citizens of this country and they have right to choose their life partner.”The aggrieved couple’s counsel, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, told the HC that the notice of “solemnisation of marriage” was leaked in the public domain on July 22, leading to alleged threats from multiple people claiming to be part of a Hindu organisation. It was alleged that they assembled and threatened the couple as well as their family members over the interfaith marital tie. It was alleged that the bride’s father was abducted and forced to file an FIR to stop the marriage from taking place.“Under coercion, the bride was forced to sign an informal social agreement that she and her sisters cannot maintain relations with any person practising Islam,” the petition stated.The couple speaking to reporters said, “We have been in a relationship for one-and-a-half decades. Now that we are adults we wanted to marry and settle down. We have also applied for marriage under the Special Marriage Act, which is legal in our country. And yet we are facing threats. This is not an issue of conversion. We are in love and as adults chose to marry. Is this illegal?”
