Gujarat High Court
Ishwarbhai Raimalbhai Thakor vs State Of Gujarat & 6 on 15 November, 2016
Author: Akil Kureshi
Bench: Akil Kureshi, Biren Vaishnav
R/SCR.A/4289/2016 ORDER
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
SPECIAL CRIMINAL APPLICATION (HABEAS CORPUS) NO. 4289 of 2016
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ISHWARBHAI RAIMALBHAI THAKOR....Applicant(s)
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT & 6....Respondent(s)
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Appearance:
MR MAHENDRA K PATEL, ADVOCATE for the Applicant(s) No. 1
MR KAMLESH S KOTAI, ADVOCATE for the Respondent(s) No. 4 - 7
NOTICE SERVED BY DS for the Respondent(s) No. 2 - 3
MR. MANAN MEHTA, ADDITIONAL PUBLIC PROSECUTOR for the
Respondent(s) No. 1
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE AKIL KURESHI
and
HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE BIREN VAISHNAV
Date : 15/11/2016
ORAL ORDER
(PER : HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE AKIL KURESHI) 1 Petitioner is father of one Savitaben who has eloped with the respondent No.4. According to the petitioner, his daughter is aged 16 years he has therefore filed this habeascorpus petition. 2 Previously, the Division Bench of this Court had grappled with two issues, one of the correct age of the girl and second regarding her free will. In an Page 1 of 3 HC-NIC Page 1 of 3 Created On Wed Nov 16 00:05:25 IST 2016 R/SCR.A/4289/2016 ORDER order dated 04.07.2016, the Court recorded that the wishes of the girl were ascertained in the chamber. She had stated that she was willingly residing with her husband i.e. respondent No.4. Despite this desire of the girl, if she was minor, the question of her free will may become insignificant and therefore the Court desired to ascertain her correct age. It was found that in the School Leaving Certificate her date of birth was shown as 12.06.2000. However, the Court noticed certain discrepancies in the school records, and therefore, under order dated 19.07.2016 referred the question of the correct age of the girl for medical opinion. Learned APP produced the police records which contains the certificate of the Medical Officer of Government Hospital, Sola, which indicates that as per the radiological tests, the age of the girl could be estimated between 17 to 20 years. However, on reference to the dentist Doctor Shirish Shah, as per his opinion the girl was about 18 years of age.
3 Thus, when we find that there is a strong prima facie case suggesting that the girl is more than 18 Page 2 of 3 HC-NIC Page 2 of 3 Created On Wed Nov 16 00:05:25 IST 2016 R/SCR.A/4289/2016 ORDER years of age, that she has performed marriage with respondent No.4 who is stated to be aged about 22 years and that she is residing with her husband since about 10 months willingly and that she was never forcibly taken away by the respondent No.4 or anyone else from her parental home forcibly, it would not be proper to issue a writ of habeascorpus by handing over the custody of the girl to the father. The petition is therefore dismissed.
(AKIL KURESHI, J.) (BIREN VAISHNAV, J.) Bimal Page 3 of 3 HC-NIC Page 3 of 3 Created On Wed Nov 16 00:05:25 IST 2016