Married woman in a live-in relation seeks protection from husband; HC calls it 'illicit'

Allahabad: Observing that “live-in relationships cannot be at the cost of the country’s social fabric”, the Allahabad high court recently dismissed a plea by a married woman seeking protection from her husband who was allegedly interfering in her relationship with another man.

Court noted on July 29 while rejecting the plea filed by the woman and her live-in-partner, and imposing a fine of ₹5,000 on them. The court refused to give any protection to the petitioners as, it observed, that doing so would amount to “indirectly giving assent to such illicit relations”.

In her petition, the woman alleged that she was tortured by her husband and was forced to start living with her partner. She added that her husband recently barged into the house of her partner and tried to disrupt their peaceful life.

The court said that if her husband barged into the house, a criminal complaint can be filed against him but “none law abiding citizen who is already married under the Hindu Marriage Act can seek protection of this court for illicit relationship...”

The high court however, clarified: “We hold that we are not against granting protection to people who want to live together irrespective of the fact as to which community, caste or sex they belong to.”