SC Grants Bail to Muslim Man Jailed for Interfaith Marriage, Stresses Personal Liberty

New Delhi, June 11, 2025: The Supreme Court of India on Monday granted bail to a Muslim man who had been imprisoned in Uttarakhand for nearly six months after marrying a Hindu woman, asserting that the state cannot interfere in the lives of two consenting adults choosing to live together, regardless of their faith. The decision was delivered by a bench comprising Justices BV Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma, who overturned an earlier order of the Uttarakhand High Court that had denied the man bail in February 2025.

The man, identified as Siddiqui, was arrested in December 2024 under the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018, and relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, 2023, on allegations of concealing his religious identity and fraudulently marrying the woman under Hindu rites. The arrest followed an FIR filed by a cousin of the woman two days after the couple’s wedding at Rudrapur Police Station in Uttarakhand’s Udham Singh Nagar district.

In its order, the Supreme Court emphasised that the ongoing criminal proceedings could not impede the couple’s right to live together. “The respondent state cannot have any objection to the appellant and his wife residing together,” the court stated, noting that the marriage had occurred with the consent of both families. The bench directed Siddiqui's release, observing that he had already spent six months in custody and that the charge sheet in the case had also been filed.

Senior counsel representing Siddiqui argued that the First Information Report (FIR) in the case was registered only after objections were raised by certain individuals and groups opposed to interfaith marriages. The counsel also highlighted that Siddiqui had submitted an affidavit a day after his marriage, affirming that he would not compel his wife to convert and would respect her religious freedom.

Despite this, the Uttarakhand High Court had rejected his bail plea, citing alleged concealment of religious identity as grounds for denial. The High Court accepted the prosecution’s claim that the groom’s faith was discovered only after the woman’s relatives visited his residence in Delhi and noticed that most of the people living there belonged to another community.

The Supreme Court, however, viewed the case from a constitutional standpoint, reaffirming that personal liberty and marital autonomy are fundamental rights. “The right of adult individuals to live together cannot be curtailed by the state on the grounds of religious difference,” the court underscored.

While the apex court's decision was widely welcomed as a reaffirmation of civil liberties, many observers noted that the court could have gone further by initiating proceedings against those responsible for the allegedly false implication of the accused and critically examining the High Court's failure to recognise the facts surrounding the marriage.

Source: Hindustan Times

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