In Brief
The Supreme Court allowed Shafin Jahan's appeal against a Kerala High Court judgment that had annulled his marriage to Hadiya (Akhila Asokan) and placed her in her father's custody through a habeas corpus petition. The Court held that a High Court cannot annul a marriage in habeas corpus proceedings once the detenue appears and freely asserts she is not illegally confined. The parens patriae doctrine cannot be invoked merely on grounds of perceived vulnerability to control a mentally competent adult's choice of spouse. An adult's autonomy over matters of faith, marriage, and personal identity is constitutionally protected and cannot be curtailed by parental concern or judicial paternalism. The Court emphasized that society has no role in determining one's choice of partner, which lies at the core of Article 21 liberty.
The lawyer headnote and full judgment text are available to registered users.