COURTESY HT NOV 21

Marriage between first cousins illegal: Punjab and Haryana HC
HT Correspondent and PTI

letters@hindustantimes.com

Chandigarh : The Punjab and Haryana high court has said that marriage between first cousins is illegal.

The observation came on the plea of a 21-year-old man, who had approached court seeking anticipatory bail in a case registered under sections 363 (kidnapping) and 366A (procuration of minor girl) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against him. The man is accused of kidnapping his minor cousin, and according to the petition, they were in a “live-in relationship”.

The court said that marriage which petitioner man wants to perform with the girl, who is his first cousin, was also per se illegal.

“After hearing learned counsel for the parties, I find that... the petitioner has not disclosed about the fact that he is first cousin of .... (of the girl) and, therefore, the submission in the present petition that as and when she attains the age of 18 years, they will perform marriage is also per se illegal,” the bench of justice Arvind Singh Sangwan said.

The state counsel, while opposing the bail plea, contented that the girl was a minor and her parents had lodged the FIR as she and the man were first cousins and their fathers were brothers.

The man’s counsel told justice Arvind Singh Sangwan that the petitioner had also filed a criminal writ petition, along with the girl, for protection of life and liberty.

The court file of the criminal writ petition was summoned during the hearing and as per its memorandum of parties, the girl was stated to be 17 years of age and the petitioner man had filed the petition with the submission that both of them were in a “live-in-relationship”.

The judge, after hearing counsel for the parties in the present petition, said, “I find that in the present petition also, the petitioner has not disclosed about the fact that he is first cousin of the girl and, therefore, the submission in the present petition that as and when she attains the age of 18 years, they will perform marriage is also per se illegal.