The Supreme Court of India on Friday ordered police to provide new protections to young men and women who enter inter-caste or inter-religious marriages. Latta Singh v. State of U.P., (Sup. Ct. India, July 7, 2006), was a case involving violence and frivolous criminal charges brought by the unhappy family of a woman who married out of her caste. Not only did the court quash unjustified criminal charges, but it went out of its way to provide additional protections in the future.
It said: "If the parents ... do not approve of such inter-caste or inter-religious marriage the maximum they can do is ... cut off social relations with the son or the daughter, but they cannot give threats or commit or instigate acts of violence and cannot harass the person who undergoes such ... marriage. We, therefore, direct that the administration/police authorities throughout the country will see to it that if any boy or girl [who is not still a minor]... undergoes inter-caste or inter-religious marriage ..., the couple are not harassed by any one nor subjected to threats or acts of violence, and any one who gives such threats or harasses or commits acts of violence ... is taken to task by instituting criminal proceedings by the police against such persons...."
Friday's Times of India covers the decision.
