Kerala HC grants one-month transit bail to viral Kumbh Mela girl’s husband

Kochi: High court on Wednesday granted transit bail to the husband of the viral ‘Kumbh Mela girl’, enabling him to approach the jurisdictional court in Madhya Pradesh seeking anticipatory bail in a case registered against him for the alleged abduction of the girl.Justice Kauser Edappagath, while disposing of the anticipatory bail petition filed by the couple, directed that the husband shall not be arrested for one month to enable him to approach the jurisdictional court in MP and seek pre-arrest bail. The petitioners had approached Kerala HC apprehending arrest in connection with a case registered by the Madhya Pradesh police based on a complaint filed by the girl’s father. The complaint alleged that the girl was abducted and she was a minor at the time of her marriage.The petitioners contended that they had met at a puja ceremony held in Kerala in connection with a new Malayalam film, fell in love, and decided to live together. They submitted that their marriage was solemnised at a temple in Thiruvananthapuram and was subsequently registered under the Special Marriage Act on March 11. They also produced a copy of the girl’s birth certificate, along with copies of her Aadhaar card and bank passbook, to support their claim that she was not a minor at the time of the marriage.Meanwhile, a copy of the FIR produced before HC revealed that a case had been registered by Maheshwar police station, Khargone, Madhya Pradesh, against the man alone for the offence of kidnapping. Assistant solicitor general S V Raju, appearing for the MP director general of police, submitted that offences under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act had also been invoked against him. The validity of the marriage, solemnised in a temple, was also questioned on the ground that the couple belonged to different religions. Raju further contended that the girl was a minor and that the birth certificate produced by the petitioners was forged. Taking note of the submission, HC observed that the allegation of forgery is a matter to be investigated.The petitioners, however, submitted that if they travelled to Madhya Pradesh, they faced the risk of an honour killing at the hands of fundamentalists as they belonged to different religions. They further submitted that they were not in a position to travel to Madhya Pradesh and engage legal counsel to move a bail application without an order protecting the man from arrest. Accepting the limited nature of the request, HC granted him transit bail for a period of one month.