The Supreme Court on Monday came to the rescue of a sitting Rajasthan High Court judge’s daughter by allowing her to go with the person she wanted to marry.
Supriya Rathore, 30, was produced before a Bench of Justices H.L. Dattu and C. Nagappan by the Rajasthan police, in response to a habeas corpus petition filed by Siddharth Mukherjee. The petitioner alleged that Ms. Rathore was being kept under house arrest by her father Justice R.S. Rathore, as he opposed her marriage to him as he did not belong to the same caste. Last month, Ms. Rathore sent e-mails to judges of the Supreme Court and the Rajasthan High Court seeking help.
“You make a statement without any fear. We will protect you at any cost,” Justice Dattu told Ms. Rathore when she appeared in court on Monday. However, Ms. Rathore said she didn’t have a complaint against anyone, including her parents. She said: “I want to marry him [Mr. Mukherjee]. I want to go with the petitioner.”
In a brief order, the Bench said it would have directed the petitioner to approach the High Court in normal circumstances but “Since there is an allegation against the third respondent [Justice Rathore] who is a sitting Judge of the Rajasthan High court and the petitioner may not get appropriate relief, we have asked the Station House officer, Gandhinagar, Jaipur, to produce her in the court on a habeas corpus petition.”
The Bench said: “She is a major and is free to make a statement. She states she intends to marry the petitioner. The SHO is asked to give her custody to the petitioner… She can approach the court if the petitioner or any other person causes any inconvenience to her in the near future.”
