MAHESH GROVER, J.

1. On due consideration of the matter and noticing the fact that some girls most of them minor and few in a family way or even having children are languishing in protection homes for the sole offence of being in conflict with the societal norms mandating matrimony only with parental consent, I am of the view that confining such girls to protection homes against their wishes would imply curtailment of their liberties as enshrined in Article 19 of the Constitution of India and in the prescribed oppressive conditions in such homes clearly violative of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

2. The court on stumbling upon these instances has chosen to treat these pleas of minor girls crying for freedom as Habeas Corpus petition.

3. The question that confronts the court and begs an answer is whether individual freedom can be curtailed in abject subjugation to the diktats of a set of individuals or of the society collectively to deprive an individual of his liberty protected as a fundamental right and negating the principle of rule of law.

4. If this proposition is accepted, that societal norms bred from a feudal mindset or parochial considerations would override t