Hyderabad: The Bombay High Court has directed the Telangana Police not to take any coercive action against a 21-year-old Hyderabad woman, ruling that an adult has the legal right to decide where she wants to live and cannot be forced to return to her parents’ home.
A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad passed the order on July 2 while hearing a petition related to a missing person case registered by the Telangana Police.
Left home voluntarily, Woman tells court
The woman told the court that she had voluntarily left her adoptive parents’ home in Hyderabad and moved to Mumbai in June. She said she was working with a non-governmental organisation and had left because she did not want to marry a man who was 10 years older than her.
The bench observed that, being an adult, she was entitled to make independent decisions regarding her residence, marriage and higher education. It also held that she had the right to seek protection from threats or coercion by family members.
In an affidavit, the woman’s adoptive mother told the court that the family would not force her into marriage or prevent her from pursuing higher education. She also said the couple had raised the woman since she was a two-month-old infant.
However, after the woman made it clear that she did not wish to return to her adoptive family, the bench directed the Telangana Police to take steps to close the missing person case.
