Overview
- The Kerala High Court on Tuesday, July 21 ordered fresh police protection after the woman said she had been followed, received death threats, and seen her photos and marriage images publicly burned.
- Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas suo motu impleaded the Palarivattom SHO and directed that protection include access to a woman officer and a local contact for urgent assistance.
- The court earlier vacated an interim protection order when police told it they could not trace the woman, and the new order lasts until the next hearing set for July 28.
- Parallel criminal proceedings in Madhya Pradesh continue: the woman's father filed an FIR accusing abduction and alleging she was a minor, POCSO and SC/ST Act counts are in the case, and the couple have challenged the birth certificate as forged with the MP High Court granting interim relief on that point.
- The husband received one month of transit bail from Kerala to pursue remedies in Madhya Pradesh, his local anticipatory bail was refused, and his interim bail extension was denied by the Kerala court, leaving his legal and custody status unresolved.