look news india
News India Live, Digital Desk: Madras High Court has given a strong message to husbands who use legal tactics in marital disputes. The Court clarified that a wife is not the ‘chattel or private property’ of her husband, who can be brought back by court order against her will.
What was the whole matter?
A person filed a complaint in the Madras High Court Habeas Corpus Petition Was filed. The husband alleged that his wife was held illegally by her parents (in-laws). He had appealed to the court to direct the police to find his wife and bring her back to him.
Court’s sharp comment: “The misuse of habeas corpus should stop”
Justice S.S. Sundar and Justice N. Senthilkumar’s bench, while hearing the case, strongly reprimanded the petitioner. The court said:
No illegal detention: If the wife is living in her maternal home willingly, then it cannot be considered as ‘illegal detention’.
Wife is not property: The law does not give any man ownership rights over his wife. He is a free citizen and has every right to live as he wants.
Wrong plea: Habeas corpus petition is used in case of serious crimes or someone has gone missing, and not to settle domestic disputes or to press for the return of the wife.
Advice to go to family court
The High Court, while rejecting the petition, said that if the husband feels that his wife is living separately from him without any concrete reason, then he Hindu Marriage Act (Restitution of Conjugal Rights) Under this, one should approach the family court. It is not justified to waste the precious time of the High Court with such petitions.