AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court has reunited a couple who were forced to sign divorce papers by the woman’s family members who were not happy with the inter-caste marriage.
They were separated within two weeks of declaration of their marriage.
The case involved a 32-year-old doctor serving in a public health centre in Deodar taluka and a staff nurse working in another government health centre nearby.
They fell in love and got married in 2017.
Since the woman’s family was against such union, she kept her marriage a secret for four years and both of them continued to stay separate.
The doctor belongs to Thakor community, while the nurse is from Chaudhary community.
It was on May 12 that they got their marriage registered.
The declaration of their marriage agitated the woman’s family members who did not approve it.
In two weeks, the extreme pressure exerted by the woman’s family forced them to sign a divorce deed, which was notarised on May 26.
The woman was taken to her parental home and was not allowed to see the doctor.
According to the doctor’s advocate Jigar Gadhavi, barely a week passed after their separation and his client received a message from the nurse informing him that she was forcibly kept apart and that she wanted to join him again.
She requested him to free her from the family’s confinement.
This led the doctor to file a habeas corpus petition in the high court on June 10 narrating the facts on how they were separated and made to sign a divorce deed.
The bench of Justice R M Chhaya and Justice Nirzar Desai asked for presence of the woman, who appeared before the court through video conferencing.
She told the court that she was 26 years of age and expressed her desire to reunite with the doctor.
The court permitted her to join the doctor and “live her own life as per her own wish”.
The court directed the Banaskantha police to provide security to the couple till they reach the doctor’s village, Tervada.