Taking cognisance of the constitutional right to choose one’s life partner, the Gujarat High Court has ordered immediate transfer of property adjudged “to its rightful natural heir” after the demise of the family’s patriarch.
The case belongs to Pranjtij taluka of Sabarkantha district. The 24-year-old woman lost her father in December 2021. Her paternal and maternal sides were opposed to her choice, and wanted to marry her off to someone they chose. However, in February, the determined girl married her love interest.
This did not go down well with her family. Her paternal uncle assaulted her husband and his father, and forcibly took her away. Her husband was forced to approach the HC by filing a habeas corpus petition through advocate Bhunesh Rupera seeking custody of his wife.
Thereon, the HC, fearing that property rightfully hers would soon be usurped, ordered the local police and a legal service authority to undertake the process to transfer two houses, a shop and some agricultural land in the woman’s name.
The woman was brought to court on March 23. She recounted her story stating that her mother passed away a few years ago but, her life took a sorry turn after her father’s demise in December. A bench comprising Justices Sonia Gokani and Mauna Bhatt heard her plea and ruled that her “constitutional right to choosing her partner” must be upheld.
The judges asked the government lawyer to facilitate an early mutation of properties and handing over of the keys and papers of other assets that belonged to her father. One advocate Jankhana Raval has been entrusted the charge of early execution of the verdict.
