The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a plea by an interfaith live-in couple seeking protection against alleged harassment by the police, Bar and Bench reported on Saturday.
A bench of Justices Sangeeta Chandra and Narendra Kumar Johari said that the observations made by the Supreme Court on live-in relationships should be read in the context of the facts of each case.
“The observations of the Supreme Court as aforesaid however cannot be considered to promote such relationships,” the bench added. “Law traditionally has been biased in favour of marriage. It reserves many rights and privileges to married persons to preserve and encourage the institution of marriage.”
A 29-year-old Hindu woman and a 30-year-old Muslim man sought protection from the judges citing the Supreme Court’s ruling in the 2006 Lata Singh case.
In the case, the Supreme Court had held that, “the caste system is a curse on the nation and the sooner it is destroyed the better. In fact, it is dividing the nation at a time when we have to be united to face the challenges before the nation unitedly. Hence, inter-caste marriages are in fact in the national interest as they will result in destroying the caste system”.
In 2013, the court had also observed that “live-in or marriage-like relationship is neither a crime nor a sin though socially unacceptable in this country”. A bench headed by Justice KS Radhakrishnan had said that the decision to marry or not to marry is “intensely personal”.
The Allahabad High Court, however, said that the Supreme Court was simply accepting a social reality and had “no intention to unravel the fabric of Indian family life”.
The judges also stressed on the need to create awareness among the youth about the various legal hassles that could arise due to such relationships. “Partners in a live-in relationship do not enjoy an automatic right of inheritance to the property of their partner,” the order said.
The bench said the interfaith couple had approached the High Court with unsubstantiated allegations. “They have also not stated anywhere in the writ petition any specific instance of the police coming and knocking their doors or taking them to the police station,” the judges added.
The couple told the court that the woman’s mother was unhappy with their relationship and had gone to the police, who “constantly harass” them and disturb their peaceful life.
But the judges said that the couple had filed a fictitious application, which “appears to be a circuitous way to get the seal and signature of the High Court upon their conduct without any verification of their age and other necessary aspects required to be done by the appropriate authority”.
The High Court also said that Islam does not recognise pre-marital sex.
“The punishment for such offence according to Quran [chapter 24] is hundred lashes for the unmarried male and female who commit fornication together with the punishment prescribed by the ‘Sunnah’ for the married male and female that is stoning to death,” the order stated.
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