The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea by the parents of a girl, saying a child is not a property. The parents had sought criminal action against their daughter's partner on the ground that she was a minor at the time of marriage, saying the child is not a property. A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar said the girl was not a minor at the time of marriage.

CJI said, you do not have the right to imprison. You are not accepting the relationship of your adult daughter. You consider your daughter a property. She is not a property. Accept the marriage of your adult daughter.

Demand for criminal action against daughter's partner

The bench noted discrepancies in the date of birth certificates submitted by the parents and said it was not pursuing the matter further. It was not inclined to interfere with the high court order. On August 16, the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court had quashed an FIR lodged against a man in a case related to the alleged kidnapping and sexual assault of a minor.

The daughter was lured and kidnapped

The FIR was lodged by the girl's father under various provisions related to kidnapping and other crimes. He had said that his 16-year-old daughter was missing. He had alleged that a man had abducted his daughter after luring her. The High Court quashed the FIR considering that the girl was an adult and had married with consent.

Petition in Supreme Court against false cases of dowry and domestic violence

A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court in the wake of the controversy arising out of the suicide of Bangalore engineer Atul Subhash. It alleges misuse of dowry and domestic violence laws against men. It has been demanded to issue guidelines to prevent misuse of such laws.

The PIL states that AI engineer Atul Subhash is not alone and there are lakhs of married men like him who are falling prey to such fake cases at the hands of their wives. The PIL filed by Vishal Tiwari has demanded the formation of a committee of former Supreme Court judges, lawyers and jurists to review and improve the existing laws of dowry and domestic violence and prevent their misuse.

Became a weapon to harass parents

According to the petition, laws against dowry and domestic violence were enacted with the aim of protecting married women, but these laws have now become a weapon in the hands of women to harass their husbands and their parents.