Chitambaresh, J.

1. “Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.”

said Maya Angelou, the American poet, memoirist and civil right activist.

2. Sruthi Meledath (‘Sruthi’ for short) fell in love with her classmate Anees Hameed (‘Anees’ for short) while studying for the B.Sc. (Physics) course in the Pilathara Cooperative Arts & Science College. Sruthi pursued her M.Sc. (Physics) course while Anees completed certificate course in NDT and Piping Design and Engineering and has joined for M.B.A. (Marketing) course through distance education. Sruthi expressed her desire to marry Anees which was vehemently opposed by her parents on the ground that both belong to different religious communities-Hindu and Muslim. Sruthi quietly left her parental home on 16.05.2017 along with Anees to New Delhi and it is stated that a mock marriage was conducted thereat after she got converted to Islam. The couple had a live-in-relationship for about a month-initially at New Delhi and later at Sonepat in Haryana-during which time Anees was working in a private establishment.

3. It appears that the father of Sruthi preferred a complaint alleging that his daughter is missing whereupon Crime No.329/2017 was registered on the file of the Pariyaram Medical College Police Station. The parents of Sruthi followed it up by W.P.(Crl.)No.206/2017 on the file of this Court which was disposed of observing that a ‘proper investigation’ is under progress. The police later took the couple into custody on 20.06.2017 from their residence at Sonepat and brought them to the Pariyaram Medical College Police Station via Mangalore by flight. Anees and Sruthi were produced separately before the Court of the Judicial First Class Magistrate, Payyannur on 21.06.2017 obviously to screen one from the other while recording their statements. Sruthi was handed over to her parents who took her to a Yoga Kendra at Udayamperoor in Ernakulam wherein she was lodged as an inmate along with other hapless girls who exceeded forty in number. Anees was totally in the dark about the whereabouts of Sruthi and therefore preferred C.M.P.No.4727/2017 on the file of the Court of the Judicial First Class Magistrate, Payyannur. The Court of the Judicial First Class Magistrate by order dated 27.06.2017 issued a search warrant under Section 97 Cr.P.C. to trace out Sruthi who was kept concealed by her parents. Anees who was desperate also filed W.P.(Crl.)No.313/2017 on the file of this Court for the issue of a writ of habeas corpus directing Sruthi to be freed from the illegal detention.

4. The parents of Sruthi however filed Crl.M.C.No.5684/2017 on the file of this Court to quash the search warrant in C.M.P.No.4728/2017 issued by the Court of the Judicial First Class Magistrate. They on their own volition produced Sruthi in this Court on 18.08.2017 in the midst of hearing of Crl.M.C.No.5684/2017 and the learned single Judge did interact with her. It is a fact that a frightened Sruthi at that point of time chose to remain with her parents and did not disclose anything about her lodging at the Yoga Kendra or the torture underwent by her. Sruthi was put back in the Yoga Kendra by her parents not only to insulate her from Anees but also to persuade her to snap the relationship and remain as a Hindu forever. But Sruthi convincingly insisted on joining Anees when she was produced on 22.08.2017 in the midst of hearing of W.P.(Crl.) No.313/2017 when the earlier Division Bench passed the following order:

“5. Learned Counsel appearing for respondents 6 and 7 submits that in Crl.M.C. No. 5684/2017, which was filed by respondents 6 and 7, the detenue was produced before the learned single Judge of this Court and she had given a statement that she would like to go with her parents.

6. We interacted with the detenue. According to her, though she had given such a statement before the learned single Judge of this Court, it was under severe pre