SC Rescues Minor from Forced Marriage, Orders Protection

New Delhi– The Supreme Court has stepped in to safeguard a 16-year-old girl from Bihar who alleged she was forced into marriage with a man nearly twice her age and subsequently suffered both mental and physical abuse.

A bench comprising Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Manmohan directed both the Bihar Director General of Police and the Delhi Police Commissioner to ensure the safety of the girl and her male friend, who had helped her escape and now faces abduction charges. The court also instructed authorities to provide emergency contact numbers to the pair and submit status reports on their well-being.

The girl had approached the apex court via her friend, seeking to dissolve the marriage under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, and requested legal protection from any retaliatory action.

She alleged that her mother and the man she was married to had orchestrated the union in December 2024, shortly after she completed her Class 10 board exams. The man, a civil contractor, reportedly demanded marriage in return for financial help extended to her family. Once married, she claimed she was forbidden from continuing her education and faced constant abuse — particularly after she resisted physical intimacy.

Fearing for her life, she fled in March with her friend to Varanasi. Her mother later filed a kidnapping FIR at Naubatpur police station in Patna. The court has now sought responses from both the mother and the contractor, with the case set for review in July.

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