BHOPAL: A 19-year-old married woman who has been given legal sanction to live “independently” with the man of her choice told the Gwalior bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court that her 40-year-old husband – who is more than twice her age – has been abusing her and she does not want to return to her parents as they do not wish her well either.The order was issued on April 2 by a division bench of Justices Anand Pathak and Pushpendra Yadav on a habeas corpus plea of the woman’s husband, who claimed that his wife was being held captive by a young man.The woman testified in front of her husband, parents and the man she lived with that the latter gave her the independence she craved and had no problem returning to people who were “not my well-wishers.”When asked where she wanted to live in the future, the woman said she wanted to be with the man accused of imprisoning her.
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Government advocate Anjali Gyanani, who was assigned by the court to counsel the woman privately, told the judge that she stood her ground and decided to exit her marriage to the much older man after experiencing “disharmony rather than harmony”.The court also questioned young people who lived with her. He admitted that he had feelings for her, expressed his hope to marry her after her divorce, and promised to take care of her and “not harass her in any way.”The court order noted that since the woman was a voluntary adult, the habeas corpus petition “has lost its purpose.” The judge directed that the woman be placed under the state’s Shourya Didi framework for six months before allowing her to live with a man other than her husband.Janani and a female police officer named Bhavna took the woman to court and were appointed her Shourya Didis.The concept, evolved by the Gwalior Bench in the 2024 case of Harchand Gurjar v. Parliament, envisages a woman police officer or a suitable person under the Juvenile Justice Act as a mentor and supporter for vulnerable women and girls, especially victims of sexual offences, girls in need of care and protection and children in conflict with the law.
