Long Cohabitation Between A Man And A Woman Raises Presumption In Favour Of Marriage, Says Supreme Court
While live-in relationships are legal, they’re still looked down upon in society. Having said that, a large number of people are now opting for live-in relationships as opposed to marriage due to various reasons. But when a couple stays together in a live-in relationship for an extended period of time, it raises a presumption that they will get married, hai na? Well, in case you have any doubts, the Supreme Court cleared it for you. In a recent case, the Apex Court affirmed that long cohabitation between a man and woman raises a strong presumption in favour of their marriage. A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices S. Abdul Nazeer and Vikram Nath further observed that the presumption is rebuttable, there is a heavy burden of lies on the party that seeks to deprive the relationship of legal origin to prove that marriage did not take place.
The above-mentioned judgement was passed in a property partition case. The petitioners who filed a partition suit had contended that the property belonged to Kattukandi Edathil Kanaran Vaidyar who had 4 sons, namely Damodaran, Achuthan, Sekharan and Narayanan. The first petitioner was Damodaran’s son who was born in his wedlock with Chiruthakutty and the second petitioner was the son of the first petitioner. The defendants in the case contended that all the children except Achuthan died as bachelors and Karunakaran is the only son of Achuthan and denied the contention of the petition that Damodaran had married Chiruthakutty and that the first petitioner was their son born in the said wedlock. In the case, the Apex Court observed that the petitioners proved the long cohabitation between the couple and the defendants failed to rebut the presumption in favour of a marriage between the duo. After referring to several previous judgements the court observed that if a man and a woman live together for a long time as man and wife, the presumption will be in favour of wedlock and the presumption could be drawn under Section 114 of the Indian Evidence Act.
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During the proceedings, the Trial Court found that Damodaran had a long cohabitation with Chrituthakutty and it could be concluded that Damodaran had married her and that the first petitioner was their soln. In the preliminary decree, the Trial Court ordered for partition of the suit property into two shares and one was to be allotted to the petitioners. In an appeal filed by the defendants in the High Court, the court held that there is no evidence to establish that the long cohabitation between the first petitioner’s parents and the documents only proved that he is the son of Damodaran but not legitimate. The case then went to the Supreme Court where it was the documents were examined to understand if there is sufficient evidence to prove long cohabitation and the relationship of marriage between Damodaran and Chiruthakutty.
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