ORDER

1. Leave granted.

2. The present appeal, by special leave, calls in question the defensibility of the order dated 5.12.2017 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in Habeas Corpus Writ Petition No. 52290/2017. The said petition was filed for issuance of a direction to produce the present petitioner No. 1 before the Court on the foundation that she is the wife of the petitioner No. 2 and has been kept in illegal detention by the respondent No. 3.

3. It is necessary to mention here that at the behest of the respondent No. 4 - the father of the petitioner No. 1, an FIR was lodged under Sections 363 and 366 of the Indian Penal Code. It was contended before the High Court that the petitioner No. 1 was about 19 years of age and that her statement was recorded under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 wherein she had stated that she had entered into wedlock with the petitioner No. 2.

4. On behalf of the contesting respondent No. 3, a certificate issued by the Secondary School Examination (C.B.S.E.), showing the date of birth of the petitioner No. 1 as 25.9.2003 was filed. The High Court computed the age and came to the conclusion that she was 13 years an