Rajasthan HC Declares Live-in relationship Between Man, Married Woman Illicit, Even If They Are Consenting Adults

Often when I have spoken to my mom about and or explained to her what live-in relationships are, she’d always ask me ‘why not just marry that person?’ The fact is that there are multiple reasons for wanting to be in a live-in relationship and not marry, but explaining that to my mother is a bit too difficult for me. And that difficulty stems from the fact that she hasn’t been exposed to enough live-in relationships to understand it – which is the same for most adults. But then there are some who consider live-in relationships to be illicit because they don’t resonate with the Indian culture that we’ve all grown up hearing about. Take the judgment of Rajasthan HC (High Court), which stated that a live-in relationship between a man and a married woman is illicit.

Recently, a plea was filed – by a 30-year-old married woman and a 27-year-old married man – that stated that both of them are consenting adults that want to live together in a live-in relationship. They also filed for police protection that was denied by the Rajasthan High Court (HC).

The petition that was submitted to the Rajasthan High Court (HC) clearly stated that the reason she was forced to live away from her husband was because of the physical abuse and cruelty that she was facing. In fact, the counselor of the petitioners also stated that the married woman and man were constantly facing threats because of their live-in relationship. 

In response to the petitioners’ counselor, the respondents’ counselor – the married woman’s husband and his family – told the Rajasthan High Court (HC) that the live-in relationship between the married woman and the man was illicit, anti-social, and even against the law. They also argued that both of them did not deserve any sort of police protection.

The single-judge bench of Justice Satish Kumar Sharma of the Rajasthan High Court (HC) passed the order on 12th August, stating that, “It is clear from examining all the documents of both sides that petitioner number 1 is already married. She hasn’t got a 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 an illicit relationship.”

In his order regarding the live-in relationship between a married woman and man, Justice Satish Kumar Sharma also stated that if police protection was granted to the couple then it would be accepting/permitting the illicit relationship. And so he added, “Apart from the aforementioned if any crime is committed with the petitioners, they are free to lodge a report with the concerned police station or avail other available legal remedies.”

Rajasthan High Court (HC) was not the only one who considered a live-in relationship to be illicit. In fact, Justice Satish Kumar Sharma cited a similar case from the Allahabad High Court. And it is Allahabad High Court that stated that a live-in relationship cannot be considered as a legit relationship at the cost of the social upbringing of India.

Live-in relationships are as valid as a marital relationships. If two consenting adults choose to live together and not get married then it is their choice. In the above case that was presented at the Rajasthan High Court (HC), the live-in relationship became an issue because the woman was married. If the married woman and the man still choose to continue with their live-in relationship then the first step would be to divorce the abusive husband and start fresh.