Can’t seek protection for live-in relation while still married: Allahabad High Court

Justice Vivek Kumar Singh noted that though no one had the right to interfere with the personal liberty of two consenting adults such liberty was not absolute.

Plea for protection

The runaway couple had moved the high court seeking protection against disruption to their “peaceful” living through direction to the local police authority. They claimed of living as man and wife and fearing for their lives. The state counsel, however, opposed their plea.

The ruling underlined the meaning of “right to freedom” or “right to personal liberty”, highlighting it wasn’t an “absolute or unfettered right”, and carried some “restrictions”.

“Freedom of one person ends where the statutory right of another person starts. A spouse has statutory right to enjoy the company of his or her counterpart and he/she cannot be deprived of that right for the sake of personal liberty and no such protection can be granted to infringe statutory right of the other spouse,” the court said.

Ruling out any legal right for protection, the court noted that grating such a remedy would “amount to protection against” punishable offence of bigamy under the Indian law. ‘This court is not inclined to issue any writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus for protection to the petitioners who are in a live-in relationship without obtaining decree of divorce from competent court as mentioned above,” the order said.

But the court clarified that in case of any threat of violence or harm to them, the petitioners could approach the police authorities, which would verify the complaint and take appropriate action.