Rajasthan human rights panel chief calls live-in relationships ‘social terrorism’

Justice Tatia called for a law to regulate live-in relationships, by way of registrations like in the case of marriage. (Source: jharkhandhighcourt.nic.in)

Rajasthan Human Rights Commission chairperson Prakash Tatia has called live-in relationships “social terrorism”, saying the institution was infecting society. Justice Tatia, a retired chief justice of the Jharkhand High Court and former judge of the Rajasthan High Courts, said the status of women ‘abandoned’ from a live-in relationship was ‘worse than divorced women’.

“What sort of freedom is this…without notice (people) start living in with someone else, then a third person…this is infecting the society,” he told a local daily in Jaipur. Justice Tatia called for a law to regulate live-in relationships, by way of registrations like in the case of marriage.

“Two consenting adults don’t have the right to end the dignity of the entire society…live-in relationships need to be registered like a marriage….terminating the marriage also should go through a legal process,” he said. The rights panel chief said he had asked for suggestions on live-in relationships earlier this year in February.

“Some very painful stories emerged…a woman who was 50 years old, struggling with cancer. She had been living in with her partner for 10 years after her divorce. When she was diagnosed with cancer, her live-in partner left her. She asked the HRC about her human right. Now, what should she be told…that’s what the country has to decide,” he said.