In a significant ruling, the Allahabad High Court has directed the immediate release of a young woman who was sent to a Government Children Home (Girls) after her family allegedly attempted to portray her as a minor following her love marriage. The Court made it unequivocally clear that an adult woman cannot be illegally detain against her wishes. The order was passed by a Division Bench comprising Justice J.J. Munir and Justice Sanjiv Kumar while hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by Muskan and her husband.
According to the petition, Muskan (petitioner no. 1), who lives in Kanpur, married Abhishek Rajput (petitioner no. 2) of her own will and wish on 2 August 2025 at the Arya Samaj Temple in Dabauli. Their marriage was later registered on 7 August at the Kanpur Nagar Marriage Registrar’s office. Her family, however, strongly opposed the relationship. Before the marriage could even be formalised, Muskan’s father, Manoj Kumar Rajput, had already gone to the Chaubepur police station on 29 July and filed an FIR against Abhishek. He accused him of taking his daughter, who had read up to Class VII and was aged seventeen years, away on the night of 24–25 July, and claimed she had also left home with some jewellery. The case was registered under Sections 137(2) and 87 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
Aggrieved by the registration of the FIR, the second petitioner earlier filed a writ petition, wherein a direction was issued for the determination of the prosecutrix’s age through an ossification test and in the said order he was granted a stay of arrest.
During the course of the police investigation, Sections 3/4 of the POCSO Act were also added, based on a suspicious school certificate claiming that Muskan was 17 years old.
For age determination, records from two separate schools, i.e., Shaheed Bhagat Singh Junior High School and V.M. Public School, were placed before the Court. However, the entries related to her date of birth and class were inconsistent and contradictory.
The Court strongly rejected these documents, describing them as “completely unreliable, suspicious and procured surreptitiously.”
It held that “If both these are not there, the age of the victim may be determined by undertaking an ossification test or any other latest medical age determination test conducted under the orders of the Child Welfare
Committee or the Juvenile Justice Board.”
In the absence of reliable documentary proof the Court ordered an age determination by a medical board and the ossification test dated 8 September 2025 assessed Muskan’s age at approximately 18 years.
The Court observed that under “Section 94(2), is to depend on the medical opinion about age because, admittedly, a date of birth certificate from the Corporation or the Panchayat is not available for the detenue.”
Based on this report, the Bench held that Muskan was an adult, and therefore, her continued detention in the child care home was “wholly illegal.”
When produced in Court, by the State in compliance with the rule nisi, she clearly stated that she wished to live with her husband. The Court, without any hesitation, directed her release, by stating:
“She is a major and free to go wherever she likes and stay with whomever she wants, including her husband.”
The Court further directed that the girl should be released immediately from the Government Children Home (Girls), Swaroop Nagar, Kanpur Nagar, and copies of the order be sent to the Commissioner of Police, the Superintendent of the Child Care Home, and the concerned Station House Officer.
In conclusion, the High Court also observed that the entire episode appeared to be a deliberate attempt by the family to oppose the love marriage by portraying the girl as a minor. The Court emphasized that an adult woman has the legal right to choose her life partner and to reside with the person of her choice.
Case: Muskan and another vs State of U.P. and 5 others
