Consent of the family, community or clan is not necessary once two adults agree to marry, and it is the couple’s consent that has to be “piously given primacy”, the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has said while directing the authorities to provide security to a married couple who feared violence and harassment from their relatives after their marriage.

Justice Shahzad Azeem was hearing a petition filed by a man and a woman seeking protection from the Jammu and Kashmir administration and other respondents. The couple claimed they had married of their own free will but feared for their safety because their relatives opposed the marriage .

“Consent of family or community or clan is not necessary once two adult individuals agree to enter into wedlock and their (couple’s) consent has to be piously given primacy… When two adults consensually choose each other as life partners, it is manifestation of their choice that is recognised under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution ,” the court said on October…