How safe are you in a live-in relationship in India?Subscribe
Team Orom
Now that India is becoming urban, more and more people are getting enthralled with the idea of live-in relationships. A live-in relationship is used when two individuals cohabitate under one roof without getting married. In India, an enormous number of people consider live-in relationships ignominious.
However, it doesn't matter what the nay-sayers say; all that matters is what the law of the land says. In 2010, in the case of S. Khushboo vs. Kanniammal, the Supreme Court of India gave legal recognition to Live-in relationships in India. The court stated it comes under the Indian Constitution Article 21, Right to life.
Moreover, there have been conflicting views passed by the high courts of major states in India.
1) The High courts of Rajasthan, Bombay and Allahabad have persistently refused to grant protection to live-in couples, stating that a live-in relationship between a married and unmarried is illegal.
2) The Haryana and Punjab high courts went a step ahead and proclaimed that live-in relationships are unacceptable as they destroy the "Social fabric" of the country.
3) The Delhi court has made a polar opposite statement on Live-in relationships in India. The Delhi High court took a concrete stand for the rights of women living in a live-in relationship, regardless of their marital status.
Additionally, the Haryana State Counsel has stated that "live-in relationships are not legal and are frowned upon by the society." Thus, no protection will be granted to the petitioner. The high court of Punjab and Haryana has observed that the "individual has the right to formalize the relationship with the partner through marriage or to adopt the non-formal approach of a live-in relationship."
However, the court directed the Haryana Police that no lives or the liberty of the couples should be harmed as stated in the law.
To protect the petitioner of live-in relationship-seeking help is debatable in today's time. However, there shouldn't be anything more significant than an individual's life that is under threat against social norms. Even though the Supreme Court of India has made live-in relationships permissible, the states fail to protect the individuals living in a live-in relationships.
Nonetheless, the honorable Supreme Court of India has not only made live-in relationships legal in India. Still, it has also recognized them as "Domestic relationships" protected under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005.
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