Interfaith couple approach Uttarakhand High Court for protection, told to register live-in relationship within 48 hours

The State Counsel referred to Section 378(1) of the Uttarakhand Uniform Civil Code, according to which “it shall be obligatory for partners to a live-in relationship within the State, whether they are residents of Uttarakhand or not, to submit a statement of live-in relationship under sub-section (1) of section 381 to the Registrar within whose jurisdiction they are so living”.

It was also pointed out that in case partners in a live-in relationship do not get their relationship registered within a month from the date of entering into such a relationship, they shall be liable to punishment under Section 387(1) of the Act.

“We dispose of the writ petition by providing that if petitioners apply for registration under the aforesaid Act within 48 hours, the SHO shall provide adequate protection to the petitioners for six weeks to ensure that no harm is caused to them from the private respondents or any other person acting on their behest. Upon expiry of six weeks, the SHO concerned shall look into the threat perception to the petitioners and take appropriate action, as deemed necessary,” said the Bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari and Justice Pankaj Purohit.

However, on Friday evening, government advocate Amit Bhatt told The Indian Express that the government representative in the court had made an error since the UCC law has not yet been implemented. “I will be submitting a correction application, and the paragraph mentioning the UCC will be removed from the court order,” Bhatt said.

Sources said the government representative mistakenly believed the UCC law was already in effect because the Bill had been passed and signed by the President. The Uniform Civil Code Bill, passed by the Uttarakhand Assembly on February 7, became a law with President Droupadi Murmu’s assent on March 11, but is yet to be implemented.

The committee responsible for creating the rules and implementing the UCC is making significant progress, officials say. Following a recent statement by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami that the UCC would be implemented by October, Shatrughna Singh, chairman of the UCC’s rules-making and implementation committee, said the panel is making its best efforts to ensure the law is enacted within that timeline.

Talking to The Indian Express, advocate Mohd Matlub, who represented the couple, said that they approached the Dehradun Registrar, but were told no mechanism exists to tackle such a case at present. “The registrar said this is the first such case in Uttarakhand and they have never registered such a relationship before. Therefore, we sent the registry application by post,” he said.