‘Live-in relationship akin to marriage, parents can’t interfere’: Delhi HC
The Delhi High Court ruled that live-in relationships between consenting adults are akin to marriage and protected under the Constitution. The court granted police protection to a couple facing threats from the woman's family, emphasizing that societal prejudices cannot override fundamental rights.
Why it matters
This legal precedent reinforces the rights of individuals in non-traditional relationships against familial or societal interference in India.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court has held that a live-in relationship between consenting adults is akin to marriage, and neither parents nor friends can interfere with their choice or threaten their lives.According to news agency PTI, Justice Saurabh Banerjee granted police protection to a live-in couple facing threats from the woman’s family, observing that, as consenting adults, they had "all rights to choose and reside" with a partner of their choice without interference from anyone.The judge, in an order passed on August 13 on the couple's petition, observed that marriages are recognised irrespective of the caste, creed, colour, religion or faith of the consenting adults, and curtailing their fundamental rights, which are guaranteed under the Constitution, by "societal morals and prejudices" was a deprivation of one's very individualistic identity."Since the petitioners have willingly, consensually and with utmost responsibility chosen to enter into a live-in relationship with each other, nobody,…
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