The Punjab and Haryana high court recently observed that the marriage between a Muslim woman (18) and a Hindu man (25) won’t be valid as the woman didn’t convert to the Hindu religion before the marriage was solemnised, However, it ruled that the couple would be entitled to live together.

The bench of Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi made this observation while hearing a protection plea filed by the interfaith couple, as they were allegedly being threatened by their family members, reports said.

The couple got married in a Hindu temple on January 15.

the couple had approached the Ambala superintendent of police (SP) for providing security but no action was taken. Hence, they had to move the high court.

The court directed the Ambala SP to take appropriate action for providing security to the couple.

The court noted that the marriage between a Muslim woman and a Hindu man in accordance with Hindu rites and ceremonies, prima facie, won’t be valid as the woman did not convert to the Hindu religion before the solemnisation of their marriage in accordance with Hindu rites and ceremonies.

However, the court added:

“The petitioner No.1 being major is entitled to live with a person and at a place of her choice and both the petitioners will be entitled to live in live-in-relationship in the nature of marriage and also to protection of their life and liberty.”

In this regard, the court also referred to the judgment of the Supreme Court in Nandakumar.

the petition was disposed of with the directions to the Ambala SP to look into the grievances of the petitioners.

Also, the SP was directed to take appropriate action to protect the couple’s life and liberty as may be warranted by the circumstances.

In related news, last month, the Punjab and Haryana high court allowed a minor Muslim girl who attained puberty to get married.

In its judgment, the court cited Article 195 of the Muslim Personal Law, saying: “Lunatics and minors who have not attained puberty may be validly contracted in marriage by their respective guardians. Marriage of a Muslim having a sound mind and who has attained puberty is void if it is brought about without his or her consent.”

In this case, a protection petition was filed by a 36-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl, who got married on January 21 as per Muslim rites.

On the other hand, the Allahabad high court in October last year had dismissed a writ petition filed by a married couple seeking protection, saying that “religious conversion just for the purpose of marriage is not unacceptable”, the New Indian Express reported. While making these observations, the single judge bench court had referred to a 2014 judgment in the Noor Jahan Begum case, where the court had dismissed a batch of writ petitions seeking protection of the married couple.

The issue considered in the said case was “whether conversion of religion of a Hindu girl at the instance of a Muslim boy, without any knowledge of Islam or faith and belief in Islam and merely for the purpose of marriage (Nikah) is valid”, news reports said.

Though a larger bench of the high court quashed this order, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath had cited it to justify the so-called ‘love jihad law’. ‘Love jihad’ is the term used by right-wing groups to describe an imagined conspiracy that there is a ploy to convert Hindu women to Islam through marriage