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Context
Judgment in Hadiya case is a robust defence of the individual’s rights against the writ of clan, community, family
HC judgement
The court had annulled the marriage of a 24-year-old adult, Hadiya, arguing that a girl her age was “weak and vulnerable,” and that “marriage being the most important decision in her life, it can also be taken only with the active involvement of her parents”
SC overruled this judgement
- Strongly reaffirmed the individual’s inalienable right to choose her way of life, her religion and the person she wants to marry
- It was no part of the jurisdiction of the High Court to decide what it considered to be a ‘just’ way of life or ‘correct’ course of living for Hadiya
- Choices of faith and belief as indeed choices in matters of marriage lie within an area where individual autonomy is supreme
- They form the essence of personal liberty under the Constitution
