The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the parents of a woman to immediately release her from “house arrest” to enable her to join her male friend in Dubai.

The apex court slammed Karnataka High Court for adjourning the habeas corpus petition filed by the Dubai-based Kevin Joy Varghese, who had been in a nine-year relationship with the woman — Meera Chidambaram.

A bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Sandeep Mehta passed the orders after Varghese approached the court complaining about Meera’s continued illegal detention by her parents in Bangalore and their refusal to allow her to go back to Dubai.

Justices Gavai and Mehta held several rounds of “in-camera” talks with Meera's parents and also with Varghese.

“Today the detenue, Meera Chidambaram, as well as her parents, Mr Ramaswamy Chidambaram and Mrs Indira Chidambaram... and the parents of the petitioner... are present in the court.... We interacted with Ms Meera Chidambaram.... as well as her parents and the parents of the petitioner independently in chambers.

"Ms Meera Chidambaram emphatically stated that... she would like to go back to Dubai and pursue her career. She further stated that though on three occasions she had got interview calls from Dubai for different jobs, she could not attend the same as she was under detention of her parents. She further submitted that since all important documents including the passport are in the custody of her parents, her position is almost like house arrest."

The court noted that Meera was 25, highly qualified and mature enough to know what is right or wrong for her.