Magistrate Cannot Keep Adult Woman In Shelter Home Against Her Will: Gujarat High Court
After filing a rape complaint, a woman was sent to a shelter home and she moved the High Court when denied release.
The Gujarat High Court has held that while a magistrate is empowered to issue protective orders for the safety of a woman such as sending her to a shelter home after she files a rape complaint and declines to return to her family such an arrangement cannot be indefinite or against her will.
The Division Bench of Justice N.S. Sanjay Gowda and Justice Utkarsh Thakorbhai Desai held, "In a given case, a Magistrate would no doubt have the power to pass an order to protect the safety and security of a woman by sending her to a shelter home. However, this direction to keep the woman in a shelter home cannot be indefinite and definitely cannot be against her will. Once a person who has been ordered to be kept in a shelter home makes a request that she be set at liberty, the Magistrate is duty bound to release the woman, more so, when the woman is a major and refuses to stay in the shelter home."
Advocate Shivani J Lad appeared for the Petitioner, and Additional Public Prosecutor Jay Mehta appeared for the Respondents.
Background
The case arose after a woman lodged a complaint of rape, following which an FIR was registered. When produced before the magistrate, the woman stated she had no family support and did not wish to return to her parents' house. Given that it was late in the evening around 8 PM on March 30, 2025 the magistrate ordered that she be placed in a shelter home for her safety.
Later, the woman submitted an application requesting to be released from the shelter home. The magistrate, however, rejected her plea, leading the petitioner to approach the High Court on grounds of illegal confinement.
Finding
The High Court was critical of the magistrate's refusal to release the woman, particularly in light of the fact that her original placement in the shelter home was due to a lack of immediate alternatives and not due to any legal mandate for custody. The bench remarked, "Even though there is no challenge to this order, in our view, this order is non est since no citizen can be kept in a shelter home against their wish. We would also like to add here that the observations made by the learned Magistrate would be inappropriate and unwarranted, given the fact that the request was made by the petitioner to be released from the shelter home, and more so, when she was not accused of any crime nor was she necessary for the purposes of any investigation."
Ultimately, the High Court ruled that the magistrate’s order violated the fundamental right of the petitioner to live a life of her choosing and could not be allowed to stand. The Court ordered the immediate release of the woman from the shelter home and permitted her to collect her personal belongings.
The petition was accordingly allowed.
Cause Title: X v. State of Gujarat & Ors.