In a recent judgement, the Rajasthan High Court termed the live-in relationship between a 27-year-old man and a 30-year-old married woman “illicit”.
The bench headed by Justice Satish Kumar Sharma denied the petitioners’ request for police protection. The petitioners had claimed that they are being threatened by the respondents and their lives are in danger.
The petition also says the woman is married but has been forced to live separately because of physical abuse and cruelty by her husband.
During the hearing, the counsel for the petitioners submitted that both the petitioners are adults and are consensually in a live-in relationship.
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The counsel for the respondents — the woman’s husband and his family — had said during the hearing that the relationship between the two petitioners “is illicit, anti-social and also against the law” and had argued that they were “not entitled to get protection”.
“It is clear from examining all the documents of both sides that petitioner number 1 is already married. She hasn’t got divorce but despite that, she is staying with petitioner number 2 in a live-in relationship. In such a scenario, the live-in relationship between the two comes under the category of illicit relationship,” says the order by the court of Justice Sharma, passed on August 12.
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While passing the order, Justice Sharma also cited a recent order of the Allahabad High Court, wherein it had rejected the request for police protection in a similar case.
Dismissing the protection plea of a married woman staying in a live-in relationship with her partner, the Allahabad High Court had recently observed that a live-in relationship cannot be at the cost of the social fabric of this country.
