‘We are not against live-in relationship’, says Allahabad High Court

By LE Staff

Allahabad, June 20, 2021:  The Allahabad High Court has said it is not against live-in-relationships, while clarifying that it had recently denied protection to a couple that lived together as one of the partners was married to someone else.

A Division Bench of Justices Kaushal Jayendra Thaker and Dinesh Pathak made the observation while hearing a plea seeking protection for a couple, who was in a live-in-relationship but got married during the pendency of the petition. Passing the directions on June 18, the High Court asked the police to grant protection to the couple from Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun district.

“We are not against the live-in relation,” the court said. “Yesterday we have rejected a matter seeking protection by a couple who wanted to live in. The reasons were that the protection to live-in relation was sought for by the petitioners during subsistence of marriage of one of the petitioners”.

“In this case, both the petitioners are at marriageable age,” the court said, reported The Hindu. Hence, in view of the orders given by the apex court in the past, they are entitled to protection, the HC said.

The petitioners had approached the HC with the apprehension that they might face harassment from their families.

In a separate case, the High Court had earlier dismissed a plea filed by a married woman and her live-in partner. The court also imposed a cost of Rs 5,000 on them, observing that the woman was already married but in a live-in-relationship with another man. The court had said their act was against the “mandate” of the Hindu Marriage Act, reported news agency PTI.