Karma, Dharma, and blindness of love: Karnataka High Court advice for couple who eloped against parents' wishes

The Karnataka High Court recently said that young people who elope against their parents wishes could face Karmic consequences and gently urged them to take parents into confidence while choosing a life partner [TL Nagaraju v Inspector of Police]..The Court was considering a Habeus Corpus petition moved by a 19-year-old woman's father after she ran away from her college hostel to marry her lover.While permitting the woman to continue living with the man with whom she eloped, the Court made some interesting observations regarding the relationship one shares with their parents and their spouse."The peculiar facts and circumstances of the present case clearly depicts that love is blind and more powerful weapon than the love and affection of the parents, family members and the society at large. It is high time for the children to know that the life consists of reaction, resound and reflection. What they are doing to their parents today, would get back exactly tomorrow,” the Court said in its order.The Court focused on the idea of mutual love and respect, and opined that while the woman is indeed a legal adult who can do as she pleases, she could have informed and convinced her parents regarding marrying her lover.A bench of Justices B Veerappa and KS Hemalekha also invoked Manusmrithi to elaborate on the concept of dharma and to highlight the importance of being compassionate towards ones parents and care for them in their old age.“Even according to Manusmruthi, no person can repay his parents even in 100 years for all the troubles that they go through to give birth to him/her and raise him/her to adulthood. Therefore, always try to do whatever pleases your parents and your teacher, because only then does any religious worship done by you will bear some fruit", the Court said..Love is blind and more powerful weapon than the love and affection of the parents, family members and the society at large.Karnataka High Court.The Court also had a few words of advice for both parents and their children regarding the importance of fostering a loving and understanding environment at home and always encouraging well-rounded education. "Our history reveals that there are parents who sacrificed their lives to the children and the children who sacrificed their life to the parents. It is only a mutual love and affection between the two i.e., parents and children. If there is love and affection between two, there cannot be any rift in the family and there would be no question of either children going against the parents or parents going against the children to the Court to protect their rights," the Court observed..Society has no role to play in determining their choice of partners, including the parents.Karnataka High Court.However, the Court held in no uncertain terms that the Constitution protects the right of every individual to decide with whom to be in a relationship and the nature of such relationships. "Society has no role to play in determining their choice of partners including the parents. It is well settled that the autonomy of the individual is the ability to make decisions on vital matters of concern to life. The intersection between one’s mental integrity and privacy entitles the individual to freedom of thought, the freedom to believe in what is right, and the freedom of self determination. The family, marriage, procreation and sexual orientation are all integral to the dignity of the individual as in the present case," the Court held..Since in the instant case, the petitioner's daughter was a legal, mentally competent adult, the Court held that it cannot intervene with her right to marry the person of her choice which is an integral part of Article 21 of the Constitution.Quoting the proverb “don’t base your relationship of the advice of people who don’t have to live with the results”, the Court disposed of the plea with "a fond hope" that the woman and her husband would lead a happy married life. .[Read Order]