In a 1st in city, interfaith couple given safe house | Mumbai News

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Thursday directed state govt to immediately provide a safe house to an interfaith couple who petitioned it on Wednesday for protection, apprehending a danger to their lives. The state assured HC that it would do so by 6pm, and the petitioners were soon moved into the safe house.
This is the first case of an interfaith couple being given a safe house in the city three days after the state home department promulgated a standard operating procedure for their security and guidelines to set up safe houses for them.
The man, a Hindu from Pune, and the woman, a Muslim from Mumbai, both 23 years old, fell in love in 2019 when studying together in a Mumbai college. Both sets of parents disapproved of their relationship. They, thus, sought safe accommodation in Mumbai “till danger persists from their families.”
The couple wants to get married under the Special Marriage Act and submitted the application on Dec 14. Their lawyers, Mihir Desai and Lara Jesani, said the woman, on Dec 10, quit her job due to the families’ disapproval, and the man has to reach his workplace from Monday, and hence has sought police protection.
The HC division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan, after hearing senior counsel Desai and additional public prosecutor Prajakta Shinde, directed that the police station concerned or Thane police commissioner must within 48 hours decide the man’s pending application for protection.
On being informed that there is a police guard at the safe house, the HC order stated, “We, however, direct the police station in that jurisdiction to provide an additional guard… till the petitioners continue to live in the safe house. The guard will be provided from today [Thursday].”
Shinde said that police would act on the HC orders at least till the next hearing date — on Jan 6.
On Monday, the state govt issued the notification for setting up safe houses for the protection of intercaste and interfaith couples in the wake of Supreme Court and Bombay high court orders. The HC on Thursday took the notification on record and said while the districts where safe houses are located should be mentioned, the list of these houses need not be posted online.
The state policy sets out special cells and a helpline — 112 — to ensure security of such couples. It also said that the safe houses will be provided at state guesthouses or private accommodations, and the social department will bear the accommodation expenses, and the police and district officials will oversee the arrangements.