Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court has ordered the release of two adult women who were confined by their parents for nearly five years after they embraced Islam, ruling that their liberty cannot be curtailed on account of their religious choice. The court also imposed a penalty of ₹25 lakh jointly on the parents and the Uttar Pradesh government.
A single bench of Justice Sandeep Jain directed that the women be set at liberty immediately and ordered the police not to interfere with their lives or choices. The case came before the court through a habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of the two women.
At a hearing on July 31, the court had ordered the production of both women, stating that voluntary conversion to Islam and marriage by adult women are protected by constitutional rights, and that no one, including their father, can interfere in the absence of coercion or deception.
Advocate Syed Kaif Hasan, who represented the two women along with Advocate Kunwar Sultan Ali, said the judgment reaffirmed that an adult woman’s liberty cannot be made conditional upon her family’s approval of her religious choices.
He further noted that the court’s intervention was particularly important because the women had been deprived of their freedom for years despite being adults capable of making their own decisions. The court’s directions to the police also effectively protect their freedom to live according to their own choices.
According to the petition, the women had been kept in confinement by their family after they chose to leave Hinduism and embrace Islam. The court’s order places individual liberty, freedom of conscience, and the right to choose one’s faith at the centre of its proceedings, as enshrined in the Indian Constitution.
The judgment aligns with a series of Supreme Court and High Court rulings affirming that constitutional courts must protect the autonomy of consenting adults from familial or social pressure. In 2020, the Allahabad High Court had held that the right to live with a person of one’s choice, irrespective of religion, is intrinsic to the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.
