Ghaziabad: After spending nearly a year away, Sonika Chauhan on Tuesday was finally back with her husband Akbar Khan after Allahabad high court allowed a 26-year-old woman to live with her Muslim husband, saying that the choice of an adult to live with her partner cannot be controlled by her parents or other family members.The interfaith Ghaziabad couple was torn apart in May last year after Sonika’s parents filed a police complaint accusing Akbar of abducting the woman and wrongfully confining her. Police arrested Khan shortly after and returned Sonika to her parents.“I have my freedom back. It feels like years since I saw Akbar. I am so happy. It feels like a war that I have won. It took me a year to be presented before the courts,” Sonika told TOI. “Over the past year, since I have been staying with my parents, I did not have access to a phone and was not allowed to step outside. My parents repeatedly pressured me to file cases against Akbar, including allegations relating to religious conversion and the Pocso Act, but I refused. I love him, and he did everything he could,” she said.On Tuesday, the high court observed that there was nothing on record to indicate that Sonika was acting under coercion, undue influence or intimidation. It said that she was exercising her fundamental right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution by choosing her life partner.“I was beaten up, abused, and today with the help of the court I am here with him,” she said.But even as Sonika reunited with Akbar at his rented accommodation in Indirapuram, she said she was unsure whether the dispute and the legal proceedings were over.“When I reached Indirapuram, at my husband’s rented home, a message was conveyed from the chowki in-charge in Indirapuram that we should not stay in the area,” she said. “I don’t know if the battle is still over. Even after the court’s verdict, my problem has not ended.”On May 26, 2025, Akbar (29) was first arrested by a UP Police team from Ghaziabad after an FIR was registered at Indirapuram police station against Akbar and five unknown women under BNS sections 87 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing a woman to compel her marriage), 127 (wrongful confinement), 191 (2) (rioting), 304 (2) (snatching) and 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) on the complaint of Sonika’s father, Laxman Singh Chauhan.Laxman Singh alleged his daughter had been taken to Akbar’s shop on May 24 that year and that when he and his wife reached there, members of Akbar’s family restrained and threatened them.Soon after, Sonika recorded and uploaded online a video where she clarified that Akbar was her husband and said she had gone with him voluntarily. She said the two had been together for years and had married under the Special Marriage Act on Aug 29, 2022, at the office of the district magistrate in East Delhi. Police said at the time that they had not received documents establishing the marriage and that Sonika’s statement before a magistrate would be important for the investigation.According to Akbar and his family, he and Sonika had known each other for years and lived in the same neighbourhood. Sonika’s father, however, denied the marriage and had repeatedly said that he learnt about the marriage only in May 2025.On May 26, around 60 men allegedly attacked and vandalised Akbar’s shops in Indirapuram after several messages from right-wing groups started to circulate in WhatsApp groups calling people to gather outside his shops. Police later registered an FIR for the vandalism, however, no arrest followed. Instead, Akbar and his brother were sent into judicial custody and Sonika was forced to stay with her parents.Akbar remained in jail for 14 days before being granted bail on June 8.The dispute resurfaced on July 30, when her father approached the Indirapuram police again, alleging that his daughter had been kidnapped. Another video of Sonika subsequently emerged where the woman again said she had left her home voluntarily to be with Akbar and alleged that her parents and others had subjected her to physical and mental pressure. She also alleged that she was being pressured to give a statement against Akbar. She approached the Ghaziabad district magistrate seeking protection.Akbar was then arrested for a second time on Aug 2 in connection with the fresh kidnapping case.The case took another turn in Sept when police ordered Akbar to leave the district for six months under the Uttar Pradesh Control of Goondas Act, 1970.On Tuesday, Akbar’s lawyer, Chand Alam, told TOI that he had left Ghaziabad and moved to another state. He also said the externment order had been challenged before Allahabad high court. “Following this, we had also filed a writ petition in the Allahabad high court and the case was heard on Sept 22. It has taken over a year to get the couple their rights back.”
