Marriage a Contract in Muslim Law, Father-in-law Has No Locus to File Habeas Corpus Plea: Allahabad HC

The Allahabad High Court recently observed that a Muslim father-in-law has no locus to file a habeas corpus petition for his daughter-in-law.

The single judge bench of Justice Shamim Ahmed said marriage is a contract as per Muslim law where the husband is bound to give protection and shelter to his wife and if there is any trouble, he has remedies to approach appropriate forums but not the father-in-law as he has no locus at all.

In the case at hand, a habeas corpus petition had been filed by a Muslim man alleging that his daughter-in-law had been detained by her own parents without any reason since 2021 and they were not allowing her to go to her matrimonial home.

Therefore, he sought the court’s direction to free his daughter-in-law from the alleged illegal custody of her own parent.

Through the petition, the court was also informed that at present, the husband of the detenue was living in Kuwait for earning his livelihood.

The plea was opposed by the government counsel who submitted that since the plea had been filed by the father-in-law of the detenue, not her husband, thus, it was not maintainable.

The single judge bench opined that since it had been told that after the marriage the husband of the detenue was living and earning in Kuwait and detenue was living with her parents thus, it could not be said that she was in illegal detention.

“It may be possible that detenue herself does not want to go to her matrimonial house when her husband is not living there,” said the court.

Therefore, while stating that the father-in-law had no locus to file the present plea, the court disposed of the same. ​