High Court

Malavalli

Mandya district

Thehad to step in to find a home for a girl who was abandoned by her father right in the middle of a court case. The father had approached the High Court with a habeas corpus petition to find her. But when he realised that she was still in love with her aunt’s son (the father’s sister’s son), he refused to take her back.The HC stepped in to fill the void and directed the police to take her to her aunt’s home. “Once the child has been abandoned by the parents, naturally, the court has to step in and has to act as a parent while keeping the interest of the child in mind. Since the petitioner (father) is unwilling to take the girl back, this Court, while keeping her interest in mind, directs the police to take the detenue, in their custody and to deposit her with her real aunt intaluk,,” the HC said in its June 13 judgement.The 41-year-old father filed the petition seeking direction to the police to trace his daughter. His petition said that two months ago, his elder sister and brother-in-law visited him seeking matrimonial alliance for their son with his daughter. But his family members were not interested in this alliance and refused.On May 17, his daughter left for college to collect some applications but did not return. He visited his sister’s house too but his daughter was not there. However, his nephew was also missing and his mobile phone was switched off. A police complaint about the missing daughter was filed on May19. (The court documents do not mention the girl’s age).After the direction by the HC, the police traced the girl and produced her before it on June 12. The girl informed the court that she was willing to go with her parents only if they consented to her marriage with her aunt’s son. The father told the court that it was under the influence of his nephew that she was making such a statement. Considering the possibility of the girl still being under the influence of her cousin, the court directed that she be housed in Balakiyara Bala Mandira under the Department of Women and Child Welfare. The court wanted to give her sufficient time to reflect on her future. The girl was once again produced before the court on June 13.The court interacted with both the father and the daughter. The father told the court that his daughter can either come back to him or go with her cousin. But if she comes back to him, she has to marry a boy chosen by him and not the cousin.The court pointed out this particular condition of the father to the girl. The girl sought time to think it over. The case was called again in the evening of June 13. This time, the judges spoke to the parties in the chambers rather than in the open court. The father was still adamant that his daughter has to marry the boy of his choice if she wants to return home. The girl was equally adamant that she will marry only her cousin.The court then noted: “Once her determination was expressed to the petitioner (father), the petitioner has clearly stated that he has no desire to take his daughter back to his house and to keep her within his family.”This is when the court said that it had to step in as a parent and decide if she could be sent to the house of her aunt. Directing that she be taken to her aunt’s house, the court said that it hopes that the aunt “will look after the interest and welfare of the girl while she continues to be in her custody”.