The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has expressed serious concerns over the circumstances in which a 19-year-old girl approached the Court seeking the protection of her intended marriage with a 46-year-old man, who turned out to be already married.
Justice Rahul Bharti passed a series of directions addressing not only the immediate safety of the girl, but also broader concerns regarding the exploitation of young women by luring them into marriage traps. In a February 20 order, the Court observed that a moment of vigilance had helped prevent the young girl’s life from going to waste.
“A moment of vigil on the part of this Court being able to prevent life of a 19 years aged young girl from going waste, is best opening for this order as sequence of events preceding this date of proceedings has been able to establish,” it said.
On court orders, the girl's custody was first handed over to a women's shelter in Srinagar. After reading a report submitted by a shelter worker to the Court in a sealed cover, the judge later handed over the girl's custody to her mother.
Pertinently, the case also led the Court to raise larger concerns. The court opined that it cannot treat the matter as a one-off case and close it routinely, merely by restoring the girl's custody to her mother. After taking note of a November 2024 Nikahnama (marriage document) that allegedly formalised the union between the 19-year-old girl and a 46-year-old man, the Court opined that a probe may be necessary into whether gullible young women were being lured into marriage traps.
"The role of the religious preacher/moulvi, by whose reference the alleged Nikahnama dated 14.11.2025 has come to be produced, also needs to be thoroughly scanned as to whether there is a criminal racket going on with respect to alluring young and gullible girls like the petitioner No. 1 by self-proclaimed peers and tantriks (sorcerers) having a predatory presence and play in the society," it said.
The Court appointed advocate Sehreen Zehra as amicus curiae to assist it in examining such larger concerns. A social worker at the open shelter for girls in Srinagar's Nowgam was also requested to assist the amicus curiae.
In its latest order dated March 3, the court further sought the name of a senior woman police officer who could be entrusted with the task of conducting an investigation into ‘vulturish’ practices in rural Kashmir, where young women may be lured into marriage traps with older men.
"This court calls upon Mr Mohsin Qadri, learned Senior AAG, to apprise this court about a woman IPS officer holding position either in Srinagar or elsewhere in Kashmir Province, to whom inquiry into the matter related to petitioner No. 1 falling victim to alleged trap of marrying the petitioner No. 2 a 46-year-old already married person, and then coming to this court seeking protection, whereas the facts have turned out to be otherwise, which cannot be let go without being properly enquired and probed to figure out as to whether such like ‘vulturish’ practices are active in Kashmir’s rural areas," the court said.
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