Ahmedabad: Gujarat high court has permitted a 20-year-old woman to live with her boyfriend who cannot marry her because he is not old enough.

The court said the woman could go with her 19-year-old boyfriend after she flatly refused to stay with her mother and relatives. The court said that she is a not a minor and hence can pursue her desire to stay with whoever she likes in accordance with the law.

The state government also assured the court that police would escort her to where she wanted to stay. The young woman could free herself from her parents and relatives and reunite with her boyfriend on Wednesday after her teenaged boyfriend filed a habeas corpus petition in HC, on basis of an agreement defining their live-in relationship.

The youth had moved the HC on July 19 demanding that her girlfriend be brought before the court because she was being forcibly kept away from him by her family. He contended that since he was not of marriageable age, he could not legally marry his girlfriend. Therefore, they decided to live together and signed a contract about their live-in relationship. They had also got the document notarized.

The petitioner relied on the friendship contract because it reflected the wish of his partner that she was willing to stay with him. He also told the HC that like many inter-caste relationships, the family members interfered in his case too. They were tracked down by the girl’s family members when they eloped for nearly 10 days in June.

Upon hearing the teen’s plea, the high court ordered Surendranagar district police to bring the girl before the court. The HC also ordered police to come with the action taken report for searching for the girl, if they failed to secure her presence before the court.

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On Wednesday, cops brought the girl from her mother’s place. When the HC asked her to express her wish, she unequivocally expressed her desire that she would not like to live with her mother and relatives.

