New Delhi
Acting on a ‘minor’ girl’s petition challenging an Allahabad High Court’s order declaring her marriage void and illegal, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to produce her on October 1.

A three-judge Bench headed by Justice NV Ramana also directed the 16-year-old girl’s father and her husband to remain present before it on the next date of hearing.

It asked the state government to take proper care of the girl kept at a children’s home in Lucknow after the Allahabad High Court declared her marriage void. The Bench wanted to know why she was initially kept in a ‘nari niketan’.

The top court directed its Registry to request a doctor, preferably a female psychiatrist, from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, to remain present on the next date of hearing to interact with the girl.

As directed by the court last week, the state’s Home Secretary appeared before it. The court pulled him up for not instructing its lawyers on her appeal.

“Uttar Pradesh does not have lawyers to defend them? No instructions are given to the lawyers who appear in the matter. Is this the way you behave?” the Bench, which also included Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Krishna Murari, asked the UP Home Secretary.

As the Home Secretary expressed regret, the Bench asked him to ensure that counsel were properly instructed and counter affidavit on behalf of the state filed.