The Allahabad High Court, the division bench comprising Justice Bharati Sapru and Justice Piyush Agrawal, held that where a man and a woman, during their marriages to other persons, reside as a live in couple, they will not be entitled to any protection under the law. HC dismissed the writ petition moved by a live in couple, who "candidly" stated that they were married to other persons but they now lived with each other.
"The marriages of both the petitioners have not been terminated in accordance with law. During the subsistence of their marriages with other partners, it is not possible for the Court to provide security to such a couple who are, virtually, flouting the law of the land.” the bench stated.
Further, the court observed that the sanctity of a marriage has to be preserved. If a party wants to opt out, it can always seek dissolution of the marriage in a valid manner. However, the Courts cannot lend aid to the people who choose to not abide by the law.
SIMILAR CASE IN 2016
A similar observation was made by a single-Judge bench, consisting of Justice Suneet Kumar, the high court in 2016 in Kusum&Anr. v. State of UP &Ors., Writ C No. 53503/2016. The HC dismissed a petition seeking protection moved by a married woman and her live-in partner and noted that the relationship is adulterous and cannot be termed as a live in relationship. Hence, they are not entitled to any protection under the law.
"It is admitted and pleaded in the writ petition that the second petitioner entered into a relationship with the first petitioner who is married and her marriage has not been dissolved by any competent court as on date, therefore, such a relationship cannot be granted any protection."
LEGAL PROVISIONS FOR LIVE-IN RELATIONSHIPS
Live-in relationships were legally considered void-ab-initio. But in a judgement in 1978, such relationships are valid for the first time because of the Supreme Court. If the requisites of a marriage such as mental soundness, the fulfilment of the legal age of marriage, consent, etc. are all satisfied, the couple is considered to be in a legal live-in relationship. The couple is also regarded as married if they live together for a considerably long period until proven otherwise. Once cases of harassment and violence started increasing, the Supreme Court provided the victims with the relief, produced under the Domestic Violence Act. This act does not specify marriage but as a ‘relationship in the nature of marriage’.
The right to maintenance is also a provision exclusively provided for married women in the existing personal laws. Still, as these laws do not govern anything less than a marriage, the women in a live-in relationship cannot, at any instance, ask for maintenance from the male partner. The courts later gave this a remedy by widening the scope of support under section 125. From the Code of Criminal Procedure, criminalising any man who does not provide proper maintenance to the woman is questionable.
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