LUCKNOW, Aug. 11 -- Dismissing a petition, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has imposed Rs.1 lakh cost on a couple after finding that they had concealed the fact that the man was already married to secure interim protection from police harassment and coercive action. A division bench of Justice Rajnish Kumar and Justice Babita Rani passed the judgment on August 3 on the petition filed by the couple of Balrampur district. The bench noted that the couple moved the court with a false affidavit and with material concealment and even secured interim protection earlier by "concealing the fact and playing fraud with the Court". The petitioners had initially sought directions to the police authorities not to harass them in any manner. When the petition was first heard on May 26, the petitioners' counsel submitted that both were major and were living like husband and wife. It was claimed that they had not been able to solemnise their marriage because of fear of the petitioners' parents and that, if protection was granted, they would marry forthwith. The court, while observing that "when two major persons are willing to marry each other, no one can prevent them from doing so, and no authority can create any hindrance in their peaceful living", permitted them to solemnize their marriage within one month and get it registered thereafter. It also directed that they should not be harassed by any private or public authority, including the police, until the next date. When the matter was taken up again on August 3, the petitioners appeared before the court and their counsel informed the bench that they could not comply with the direction to marry because the man was already married. The man told the court that he filed a divorce petition under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, before the family court, Balrampur on April 3. The high court noted that this fact had "neither been disclosed in the writ petition nor before the Court" when the earlier order granting protection was passed. The court observed that the petitioners had initially attributed their inability to marry solely to fear of their parents and had sought protection on that basis. In view of this, the court stated that the petition had been filed with a false affidavit. It also noted that a litigant who attempts to "pollute the stream of justice" or touches the "pure fountain of justice with tainted hands" is not entitled to interim or final relief. The court dismissed the petition and directed the petitioners to jointly pay Rs.1 lakh within 4 weeks before the senior registrar of the court. The court directed if the cost was not paid within the stipulated period, the amount would be recovered as arrears of land revenue through the district magistrate concerned....