A person's wishes regarding personal autonomy must be respected, especially in matters of relationships, provided they are of legal age and capable of making informed decisions.

Devan Ramachandran, J.

The petitioner alleges that his daughter (who will hereinafter be referred to as the alleged detenue), is being detained against her wishes by the 1^st and 2^nd respondents.

2. The alleged detenue was produced before us by 1^st respondent, and she told us that she is having a “relationship” with him. She, however, conceded that the 1^st respondent is only 20 years in age and cannot marry her; but adding that they have lived together, without the knowledge of their families, for nearly 13 days. She pleaded with us that she be allowed to go with the 1^st respondent.

3. Hearing the alleged detenue as afore, we allowed the petitioner and his wife – namely her parents, to interact with her for over two hours within the court premises. However, even after this, the alleged detenue did not change her mind and wanted to go with the 1^st respondent.

4. The mother of the 1^st respondent was available before us, and when we asked her how her son can demand that the alleged detenue be with him, when he is not of marriageable age, she said she will take care of her because the latter is insisting that she will only go with her.

5. This is a rather strange situation where the alleged detenue wants to go with the mother of the 1st respondent; while, the latter undertakes to take care of her as her own daughter. The alleged detenue is 21 years of age, and she has a mind of her own; we cannot shackle it, under our constitutional scheme.

6. We, therefore, dismiss this writ petition, acceding to the wishes of the alleged detenue.

In order to protect the privacy for the parties, we direct that all their names and identity, including that of the “alleged detenue” be anonymised on all papers. We order the registry to do so.

Sd/-