Under article 21 of the constitution of India states that “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law, nor shall any person be denied equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India. Article 21 is applicable for both citizens and non-citizens of India.”This judgment and final order were given in the high court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh on 09/07/2021 by Hon’ble justice Jasgurpreet Singh Puri in the case Ninder and another v/s state of Punjab and others CRWP-6325-2021, the court proceedings were held on a virtual platform through a video conferencing due to the covid -19 pandemic.
The following are the facts of the case, the petitioners who are both major i.e., those who have attained the age of 21. The petitioners are married but their marriage was however against the wishes of their family members. And since they got married against their wish of the family, there has been a threat to their life and personal liberty from the family members (respondents) and hence they filed for this present petition and prayed before the courts to protect their life and liberty and dignity, according to the counsel of the petitioners, Mr. Gaurav Chadda who represented as the advocate for the petitioners, claimed they have submitted a report (annexure ) on the 7th of July 2021 with regard to the senior superintendent of police in the district of Jalandhar.
According to the advocate general of the state of Punjab, Mr. H.S. Multani present in the court has accepted the notice on behalf of the state of Punjab and a copy has also been supplied. Evidence has been provided for the records where the petitioners have placed a copy of Aadhar cards as annexures for showing the high court the proof of their age, according to the records the petitioners have also placed their marriage certificate as annexure on the record along with photographs
The court directed according to the prayer made by the petitioners to respondent no. 3 ( S.H.O, police station nakodar in this district of Jalandhar ) to protect life and liberty, and dignity which is also mentioned under article 21 of the constitution of India The court directed the police to take requisite steps, strictly in accordance with the law to grant the protection of life and liberty to the petitioners According to the court they concluded that “This petition is disposed of with a direction to respondent No.3 – S.H.O., Police Station Nakodar, District Jalandhar that representation, if any, filed seeking protection of life and liberty, be looked into and contents thereof are duly verified and if necessary, requisite steps are taken, strictly in accordance with law for grant of protection of life and liberty to the petitioners. It is made clear that this order shall not be treated as a stamp of this Court regarding the marriage of the parties.”
