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2018 Supreme(SC) 319

DIPAK MISRA, A. M. KHANWILKAR, D. Y. CHANDRACHUD
Shafin Jahan – Appellant
Versus
Asokan K. M. – Respondent


Advocates Appeared:
For the Appellants : Kapil Sibal, Sr. Adv., Ms. Indira Jaising, Sr. Adv., Haris Beeran, Mushtaq Salim, Usman Ghani Khan, Dev Prakash, K.P. Mohamad Shareef, K.C. Naseer, A. Mohamed Yusuf, S.A.S. Alaudeen, M. Abdul Shukoor, Ms. Pallavi Pratap, Ms. Nehmat Kaur, Advs.
For the Respondents: Maninder Singh, ASG, Nalin Kohli, R. Balasubramanian, Prabhas Bajaj, Ankit Roy, Ms. Nimisha Menon, Akshay Amritanshu, Neel Kamal, B. V. Balaram Das, P. A. Noor Muhamed, Ms. Giffara S., Bilal Niamathulla, Shyam Divan, Sr. Adv., Madhavi Divan, A. Raghunath, C. Rajendran, M.G. Yogamaya, Ms. Nidhi Khanna, Ayush Puri, Jaideep Gupta, Sr. Adv., C. K. Sasi, Manukrishnan G., Ms. Nayantara Roy, Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, T. Gopal, Ms. Vaidruti Mishra, Vishwajeet Singh, Jaideep Singh, Rakesh Mudgil, Gp. Capt. Karan Singh Bhati, Sayid Marzook Bafari, Faisal M. Aboobaker, Towseef Ahmad Dar, P. V. Dinesh, Ms. Swarupama Chaturvedi, Ms. Bhawna Singh Dev, B.N. Dubey, Advs.

Judgement Key Points

Certainly. Based on the provided legal document, the key points are as follows:

  1. The right of an adult individual to choose their life partner, including the right to marry a person of their choice, must be respected and cannot be overridden by parental or societal concerns (!) (!) .

  2. Parental love or concern cannot justify infringing upon the autonomy of an adult, especially when the individual is a major and asserts their free will (!) (!) .

  3. The exercise of jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution must ensure justice in accordance with law and should not encroach upon personal liberties or fundamental rights (!) (!) .

  4. The court's authority to intervene in personal matters such as marriage is limited; it cannot annul a valid marriage of a consenting adult unless there is a violation of law or a lack of capacity (!) .

  5. The doctrine of parens patriae, which allows the state to act as a guardian for persons unable to care for themselves, is to be exercised only in exceptional cases, such as minors or individuals with mental incapacity, and not to interfere with the rights of competent adults (!) (!) .

  6. The exercise of the parens patriae jurisdiction must respect individual autonomy, privacy, and personal liberty, and should only be invoked when the individual is unable to make free decisions due to incapacity or vulnerability (!) (!) .

  7. The right to faith, belief, and personal choices regarding marriage, including conversion and religious practices, are protected under constitutional rights and cannot be dictated or annulled by the state or courts based on societal or religious norms (!) (!) .

  8. The courts must avoid overreach into the private and intimate decisions of individuals, particularly in matters of marriage and personal faith, as these are protected freedoms under the Constitution (!) (!) .

  9. The validity of a marriage, especially between consenting adults, should not be questioned or annulled unless there is a clear violation of legal conditions or incapacity, and such matters are best left to the individuals involved and the law (!) (!) .

  10. Investigations into criminal activities or associations should not extend to the core personal and marital rights of individuals unless there is a direct and lawful basis, and the integrity of personal choices must be preserved (!) (!) .

  11. The exercise of judicial power must be cautious and limited to prevent infringing on fundamental rights, and courts should not act as super guardians or overstep into areas reserved for individual autonomy (!) (!) .

  12. The principles of liberty, privacy, and individual self-determination are fundamental and must be upheld, especially in cases involving adult persons capable of making their own decisions (!) (!) .

These points collectively emphasize the importance of respecting individual autonomy, limiting judicial overreach, and safeguarding constitutional rights related to personal liberty, marriage, faith, and privacy.


JUDGMENT

Dipak Misra, CJI [for himself and A.M. Khanwilkar, J.]

Rainbow is described by some as the autograph of the Almighty and lightning, albeit metaphorically, to be the expression of cruelty of otherwise equanimous "Nature". Elaborating the comparison in conceptual essentiality, it can be said that when the liberty of a person is illegally smothered and strangulated and his/her choice is throttled by the State or a private person, the signature of life melts and living becomes a bare subsistence. That is fundamentally an expression of acrimony which gives indecent burial to the individuality of a person and refuses to recognize the other's identity. That is reflection of cruelty which the law does not countenance. The exposé of facts in the present case depicts that story giving it a colour of different narrative. It is different since the State that is expected to facilitate the enjoyment of legal rights of a citizen has also supported the cause of a father, an obstinate one, who has endeavoured immensely in not allowing his daughter to make her own choice in adhering to a faith and further making Everestine effort to garrotte her desire to live with the man with whom she has e





















































































































































































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