What is the legal position on live-in relationships?
- May 14, 2024
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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What is the legal position on live-in relationships?
Sub: Polity
Sec: Constitution
Context:
- The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court stated that a Muslim cannot claim rights in a live-in relationship when he or she has a living spouse.
What are Live in Relationships?
- The concept of a live-in relationship is not defined anywhere in India.
- It refers to a proposal of two individuals living together with consent.
- It allows an individual to understand each other which helps in making an informed decision for marriage.
- Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not married, usually couples, live together. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis.
- The concept of a live-in relationship was recognised in Payal Sharma versus Nari Niketan by the Allahabad High Court.
Recent Case:
- A two judge Bench of Justices A.R. Masoodi and A.K. Srivastava called such a relationship against the tenets of Islam while hearing a writ petition.
- The judges stated that Islamic tenets do not permit live-in relationships during the subsisting marriage.
Constitutional Dimensions:
Right to Cohabitation:
- Article 19(1)(e) of the Indian Constitution states that every citizen has the right to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India.
- So the adults who wish to live together have the right to reside anywhere and cannot be denied accommodation based on their marital status.
- In Khushboo V Kanniammal case , the Supreme Court held that a live-in relationship comes within the ambit of Right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
What have the Courts said about live-in relationships?
- India does not have any laws that directly address live-in partnerships.
- For a man and a woman to live together is part of ‘the right to life’ and therefore, a live-in relationship is no longer an offense.
- According to the Supreme Court judgment in Badri Prasad v. Dy. Director of Consolidation (1978), live-in relationships in India are legal but subject to caveats like age of marriage, consent and soundness of mind.
- In Lata Singh vs state of U.P 2006 case , Supreme Court held that a live-in relationship between two consenting adults of opposite sex, though perceived as immoral, does not amount to any offense under the law.
- The Punjab and Haryana High Court stated that a couple living together without obtaining a divorce from their previous spouse cannot be classified as being in a “live-in relationship” or being in a union similar to marriage.