Police Stations becomes Match Making Units in TN: Madras HC

The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court has said that the police stations in Tamil Nadu have been a refuge for lovers on the run, and sometimes they are converted into instant wedding venues by Police Inspectors eager to play cupid or anxious not to be seen as impediments in the way of true love. But everything has its limits.

During the hearing of a Habeas Corpus Petition(HCP) filed by a 36 year old woman on Thursday, a division bench comprising Justice P Murugesan and Justice T Mathivanan was told that an unwilling teenager had been forced to marry on old woman at police station based on an allegation by the woman that he had jilted her.

"The Director General of Police (DGP) should issue an order to the police not to encourage weddings in police stations", the bench said.

Selvi karuppusamy of Viraganur in Madurai contended in her HCP that the police picked up her son Chinnaraj (18) and forcibly married him to Malayaayi (23), daughter of Karuppanan, a resident of Perungudi, on February 26.

Selvi further said in her petition that she learnt from the police that Malayaayi had lodged a complaint that her son had dumped her after being in love with her.

Though the police claimed that they wanted her son only for some clarifications, they forced him to marry the complainant; Selvi said and added, that ever since the marriage took place, she was not allowed to meet her son.

Therefore, she moved the high court with a prayer that her son Chinnaraj should be produced in court and set at liberty.

On the orders of the bench, the police produced Chinnaraj in court. The youth told the court that the police had forced him to marry Malayaayi and that he was not willing to accept her as wife. Following this, the bench allowed him to go with his mother.

Latter, the judges observed that the practice of getting couples married in police stations should not be encouraged. "Police Stations should not be become as Match Making Units", the bench said and directed the DGP to instruct the police accordingly.

- Asian Tribune -