HC grants police protection for interfaith couple’s marriage | Mumbai news

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Tuesday granted police protection to an interfaith couple who apprehend threats from their families. A bench of justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale had earlier directed the state government to move the couple to a safe house to allow them to get married as it was against the wishes of their families.

The couple, a Hindu man from Pune and a Muslim woman from Mumbai, both aged 23 years, fell in love in 2019 while studding together in a college in Mumbai. They approached the high court on December 14, 2024, saying while their families were opposed to their relationship, they wanted to get married under the Special Marriage Act.

On December 18, 2024, the state government issued a circular with details of special cells and safe houses for interfaith and inter-caste couples in every district of Maharashtra pursuant to supreme court and high court orders. The state home department also promulgated a standard operating procedure for safe houses.

The following day, the high court bench of justices Mohite Dere and Gokhale took notice of the circular and directed the state government to immediately provide a safe house to the interfaith couple, the first such case in the state. The court also directed the concerned police station to provide a guard till the couple lived in the safe house.

Advocate Mihir Desai, who appeared on behalf of the couple, told the court on Tuesday that they would get married on January 23 and were requested for police protection for the same, which was granted by the court. While the couple continue to live in the safe house with an assigned guard, additional security will be provided to them for visits to the marriage registrar office and other formalities related to their marriage, the court said.