India, April 6 -- A 19-year-old woman in Madhya Pradesh firmly asserted her independence before the Gwalior bench of the High Court, choosing to leave both her husband and parents to live with her partner. When asked by the judges, she stated clearly that she was an adult acting of her own free will and wished to stay with neither her husband nor her family.The case had begun with a habeas corpus petition filed by her husband, Avdhesh, nearly a year after their marriage. He alleged that she was being illegally confined by another man, Anuj Kumar. Acting on court orders, police traced the woman, placed her in a one-stop centre, and later presented her in court in the presence of her parents, husband, and partner.

In court, the woman spok...