Live in relationship while mutual divorce is pending
Rajib Basu
(Querist) 03 October 2018
This query is : Resolved
Now that the section 497 of IPC has been struck-down (Judgement by Supreme Court of India - Dated 27-Sep-2018’s ) - after a wife files and applies for divorce and its pending in the court, can she enter into a new live-in relation a Man.
Guest
(Expert) 03 October 2018
Vague query!
As you stated, "can she enter in to 'NEW' live in relation a man," was she already in live-in relation with some one and that has ended with some old relation?
Also, she may or may not enter in to a NEW live-in relations, what purpose that is going to serve to you? If a real problem, you should be concerned with divorce only.
Vijay Raj Mahajan
(Expert) 04 October 2018
It seems you are the other man who want to be in live in relationship with a married woman going through divorce proceeding in the court. Yes the live in relationship can be there if not criminal offence however immoral act. If for some reason divorce fails to take place, new ground of adultery for divorce for the husband of married woman will be there.
K Rajasekharan
(Expert) 04 October 2018
No law which prevents a married lady, having pending divorce case with the then husband, from entering into a live in relationship with another person.
When adultery was in force as an offence only an adulterer man could be punished under it. Adultery was legally defined in such a way. The wife was not considered an offender in adultery as per the legal definition.
Guest
(Expert) 04 October 2018
How do you believe that live-in relationship was covered under section 497?
But beware, if you are the other man and having some illicit relation with that married woman, for the time being, you can enjoy with your lot, as you stand automatically absolved of any offense by the declaration of section 497 as unconstitutional. However, if the lady at any time in future gets annoyed with you, the law would always be ready to catch hold of you, if she prefers to file a complaint of rape against you.
But a pertinent question arises, why do you prefer a lustful, susceptible delicate live-in relation? Why not wait till divorce is granted and get married with her after that?
In other words, you would always remain at the receiving end.
Dr J C Vashista
(Expert) 04 October 2018
Prima facie a timepass topic for debate on hypothetical issue.
N.K.Assumi
(Expert) 04 October 2018
Dr.J C Vashista, yes, it maybe hypothetical question but with the vanishing of 497 from the statue book, more of such issues are likely to crop up in the near future and it is a good food for thought. Pendency of divorce proceedings in the court the wife starts live in relationship as if she was waiting for scrapping 497 IPC, and it shows that she has no intention to continue the marriage. Her acts will support the divorce proceedings though it may forfeit her claim for maintenance from her husband. Here, we don't know anything about Christian Marriage Act, Indian Divorce Act etc etc, as Article 371A is there as a shield and 497 or no 497 everything works out smoothly .according to our customary wisdom, and it is really a good wisdom.
Guest
(Expert) 04 October 2018
Hope, by now you would have understood well that with regard to the affairs with a woman, a man would always remain under the scanner of the law, irrespective of whether section 497 is struck down or not.
Any change in the position or impact of section 497, would cause no effect to the laws of divorce. As usual, adultery would always remain a major cause of divorce.
Guest
(Expert) 04 October 2018
Dear N.K. Assumi,
It is not understood, how the Article 371A, as referred by you, comes in the picture in live-in relation, adultery or divorce, while the Article deals specially with the affairs of the State of Nagaland?
Rajib Basu
(Querist) 04 October 2018
Dear Mr Dhingra -
First of all thank you very much for the time and effort you have taken to reply to my question. Just want to say that my question was purely out of a technical / intellectual curiosity and as a food for thought in the post-497 era of IPC in my country, ( which for me a great achievement and a historical moment for the Indian Legal System).
However, have to say, from your reply I get a feeling, you are like personally trying to scare me rather than giving a pure technical answer. Ha ha, sorry :) , but that's what I felt, and no offence taken.
And I also did not ask about effect of IPC 497 deletion on divorce proceeding.
And as a background to my question, you can spend another minute of your time, reading the below from The Great CJI Mishra and Justice Chandrachud - during the hearing in August-2018
“Adultery may not be the cause for a broken marriage but a consequence thereof. Many a time, a party to a marriage wants divorce after a marriage has broken down, but the case goes on for years in the court. If the woman finds solace, love and affection in another man, should that man be booked for adultery by her estranged husband just because the marriage has not been annulled through divorce ?”
Thank you again :)
N.K.Assumi
(Expert) 04 October 2018
Dhingra Sir, I am glad you have posed that very important query. Article 371A as you are aware spell out the rights of Naga People in those subjects covered by the said Article. But till now Naga customary laws has not been codified with myriad of different customary laws with different personal laws of different tribes. This has resulted in confusions in the matter of marriage, divorce, inheritance etc, which varies from tribe to tribe. Consider this, if a man and a woman meet on the street and like each other they can straight away live together as husband and wife, of course, their names may be removed from the church for a year or so, but they are regarded as husband and wife without any impediments as to legitimacy of children and inheritance. And like muslim personal laws many tribes allow husband to have more than one wife and there is no end to such illustrations as far as our personal laws are concerned. I am aware that the Gauhati High Court Law Research Institute was working hard to codified the various customary laws in the North East, but I am not sure how far they have achieved with their efforts in this regards. Our Constitution spell out Uniform Civil Code, but if that is implemented, I don't think it will be easily accepted by our people. In our systems we have all kinds of liabilities and privileges etc; in matrimonial subjects both civil and criminal, but without uniform application of customary practices, which again differs amongst different tribes, clans and sub clans, and in absence of proper codifications no one can predict the definitive nature of our personal laws practices of different Tribes, Clans,and sub clans. Law should be definite and uniform in its application and not vague as the vagueness in laws results in weakness of laws and the ripples of casualty is on the society as a whole. No one is to be blame for these matters except we, The Naga People.
Guest
(Expert) 05 October 2018
Dear Mr. Rajib Basu,
In fact by your statement, "my question was purely out of a technical / intellectual curiosity and as a food for thought in the post-497 era of IPC in my country," to be frank, you have used two quite contradictory terms, "technical" and "intellectual."
If you intended to know out of technical curiosity, you were seeing false knowledge about the implications of the judgment on section 497. On the other hand, intellectual curiosity needs to know the real practical implication of the judgment. Still, your question was quite vague with reference to the judgment, when you asked, "after a wife files and applies for divorce and its pending in the court, can she ENTER INTO a NEW live-in relation a Man." That has no relevance with section 497, whatsoever, as the said section was applicable only to a man involved in to adultery (not live-n relation). There is a marked difference between adultery and live-in relation. If live-in relation turns to be adultery only then section 497 could be invoked, otherwise, live-in relation does not have any legal implication.
If you asked your question on account of intellectual curiosity, you should not have taken my answer to be causing a scare to you, when you are not involved in adultery..That should have taken to add to your knowledge about the real implication of law with specific reference to the adultery.
So far as your new question is concerned, as you asked, "And as a background to my question, you can spend another minute of your time, reading the below from The Great CJI Mishra and Justice Chandrachud - during the hearing in August-2018. “Adultery may not be the cause for a broken marriage but a consequence thereof. Many a time, a party to a marriage wants divorce after a marriage has broken down, but the case goes on for years in the court. If the woman finds solace, love and affection in another man, should that man be booked for adultery by her estranged husband just because the marriage has not been annulled through divorce ?”, TO BE FRANK, I am least interested and also not ready to waste my time to deliver any tutorial to the students on the present issue, as several supplementary questions can arise out of that. Not me only, anyone may or may not like to contribute with the view of the learned judges, as concepts and perceptions differ from person to person of each individual.
Guest
(Expert) 05 October 2018
Dear NK Assumi,
My simple answer is, no law can take care of each minute specification of the multiples of customary laws, as prevailing in different states of India. Rather, in the absence of any uniform code, constitutional right to equality, in itself, stands jeopardized due to accommodation of unwritten variety of customary laws prevalent in different states of India. The same can also prove to be contradictory to one and the others, besides creating controversial implication vis-a-vis the main law of the land. Rather, in my views, our Constitution is neither federal, nor unitary, nor democratic. If a serious thought is given, it can be termed as a mix-up of all in one.
