Nithyakalyani Narayanan. V
Referring to live-in relationships, the Allahabad High Court observed that a “systematic design is working to destroy the institution of marriage in India.”
The single Judge bench of Justice Siddarth was hearing the bail request of a man accused of raping his live-in partner.
The Court said that the security, social acceptance and stability provided by marriage to a person are never provided by a live-in relationship. He further noted that “The brutish concept of changing partners in every season cannot be considered to be a hallmark of a stable and healthy society.”
The Bench observed that middle-class morality cannot be ignored in India -“The middle-class society does not look upon such separated female as normal. From social ostracisation to indecent public comments become part of her post-live-in relationship ordeal. Then she somehow tries to get her live-in relationship with the male partner get converted into the relationship of marriage having social sanction,” the court said.
Justice Siddarth further noted that “Live-in relationship shall only be considered as normal after the institution of marriage becomes obsolete in this country, like in many of the so-called developed countries where it has become a big problem for them to protect the institution of marriage.”
The Bench noted that “Infidelity to a partner in a married relationship and having a free live-in relationship are being shown as signs of a progressive society. The youth gets attracted to such philosophy being advanced, unaware of the long-term consequences.”
Adnan was accused by his live-in partner of resiling from his promise to marry her. He was arrested in April based on the complaint of a 19-year-old woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur. They lived together for a year. When the woman got pregnant, Adnan refused to marry her, following which, the woman filed a complaint against him, alleging that he had sex with her on the false promise of marriage.