‘State can't object if families agree': SC grants bail to man arrested after inter-faith marriage
The Supreme Court has granted bail to a Muslim man who was arrested by the Uttarakhand Police in December under the state's anti-conversion law after he married a Hindu woman.
'State cannot have any objection to the appellant and his wife residing together inasmuch as they have been married as per the wishes to their respective parents and families,' said a bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and SC Sharma in a judgement delivered on May 19.
The bench was hearing a petition by a man named Aman Siddiqui, who was arrested under the 2018 Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act and sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for allegedly concealing his religious identity and marrying a Hindu woman under Hindu religious customs, the Hindustan Times reported. Siddiqui was in jail for nearly six months.
Siddiqui was booked on December 12, two days after his wedding, on a complaint filed by his wife's cousin, who claimed the family discovered the groom's religious identity only after visiting his home in Delhi.
In February, Siddiqui's bail application was rejected by the Uttarakhand High Court, which accepted the prosecution's claim that the man and his family had intentionally concealed their religious identity.
It took note as evidence an affidavit submitted by Siddiqui the day after the marriage, wherein he pledged not to force his wife to convert and to respect her religious freedom.
The High Court had also stated that the marriage was not conducted under the Special Marriage Act, which is typically followed in interfaith unions.
Siddiqui then approached the Supreme Court.
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