3 min readJaipurAug 18, 2021 04:29 AM IST
First published on: Aug 17, 2021 at 01:49 PM IST
The Rajasthan High Court recently in an order termed the live-in relationship between a man and a married woman “illicit”.
In the order, the single-judge bench of Justice Satish Kumar Sharma also denied the petitioners’ request for police protection. The petitioners had said that they are being threatened by the respondents and their lives are in danger.
The plea was jointly filed by a 30-year-old married woman and a 27-year-old man from the Jhunjhunu district. During the hearing, the counsel for the petitioners submitted that both the petitioners are adults and are consensually in a live-in relationship.
The petition also says the woman is married but has been forced to live separately because of physical abuse and cruelty by her husband.
Their counsel added the petitioners are constantly receiving threats because of their live-in relationship and their lives are in danger. The petitioners had requested police protection on this ground.
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.
The order, written in Hindi, rejected the request for police protection, adding that granting police protection to the petitioners would “amount to indirectly giving permission/acceptance to such illicit relationships”.
“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,” says the order.
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.
The court's order denied the petitioners’ request for police protection. 
Share
