The Gujarat high court has yet again condemned exchange marriage, stating that the practice is a consequence of Gujarat’s falling sex ratio.
The court recently re-united a couple separated by the woman’s family, who had pressurised her to divorce her husband because she has a brother and he does not have a sister.
“Depletion of sex ratio in the state of Gujarat results in more and more such cases coming to the court. On one hand, the birth of the daughter is not acceptable and on the other, with depletion of the ratio, marriages take place regardless of will, wish, emotion and age”, the HC noted while reconciling the couple, separated on demand of exchange marriage.
The couple belonged to the Kadva Patidar community from the Sabarkantha district, near Idar town. Their marriage was registered on December 28, 2021. The woman was stopped from meeting her husband when her family learned about the marriage. The husband turned to the apex state court through lawyer Amita Shah, demanding custody of his wife.
It was alleged before the court that the woman was detained by her parents and not allowed to visit her husband because she has a younger brother and the man has two brothers, so an exchange marriage was impossible. The court had called for the woman’s view. Because of the pandemic and online mode of hearing, the woman was produced before the court from the office of the lawyer her father hired. In that instance, the woman made a statement that she didn’t want to join her husband.
However, the HC judges insisted that the women be brought to court from a place where she will ‘not be under duress’. She was brought to the city’s civil court, where the judges asked her of her wish, again.
This time, the woman told the court that she wanted to be with her husband. The HC permitted her to join him and have ordered the police to protect the couple for the next eight weeks.
