Live-in relationships involving married individuals do not equate to marriage and are unlawful, lacking essential characteristics of marriage, thus not entitled to protection under the Domestic Violence Act.

JUDGMENT

Mr. Sandeep Moudgil, J. (Oral)

By this common order, this Court intends to dispose of all the writ petitions as common question of law is involved therein.

2. For the sake of brevity, the facts are taken from CRWP-4018- 2024.

3. This is a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a direction to respondents No.2 & 3 to protect the life and liberty of the petitioners and to restrain the private respondents No.4 and 5 not to harass, threaten or interfere in the peaceful relationship of the petitioners.

4. The factual matrix of the present case unfolds as under:-

That petitioner No.1 aged more than 40 years and petitioner No.2 aged more than 44 years are living together despite of the fact that both the petitioners are already married and is having children out of the wedlock. Petitioner No.1 has taken divorce from her husband in the year 2013 whereas petitioner No.2 is married to one Deepika Gupta and is having one male child, and has not taken divorce from his wife. Both the petitioners developed liking for each other and wants to live in live-in-relationship but respondents are extending them threats to life being deadly against their relationship.

5. Considering the aforesaid submissions, this court is of the view that India is recognized for its democratic administration and domestic framework. People, on the whole, have a strong attachment to their houses, perceiving that a human has a marriage is the most important cognitive process. In our diverse country, marriage as social tie is one the essential of Indian society. Regardless of conviction, individuals regard union as a fundamental advancement in their lives, and they agree that moral values and customs must be preserved for a stable community. India is a country with a diverse set of principles traditions, rituals, and beliefs that serve as essential legal sources. Marriage is a holy relationship with legal consequences and great social esteem. Our country, with its deep cultural origins, places a significant emphasis on morals and ethical reasoning. However, as time has passed, we have begun to adopt Western culture, which is vastly different from Indian culture. A portion of India appears to have adopted Modern lifestyle, namely, the live-in relationship.

6. With regard to the status of live-in-relationship with an existing marriage, the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Indra Sarma v. V.K.V. Sarma, (2013) 15 SCC 755, has held that all live-in-relationships could not be considered synonyms to the relationships in the "nature of marriage". A live-in-relationship between a married man and a woman or a married woman with a man is not akin to marriage, as it amounts to adultery and bigamy, which is unlawful. Therefore, such woman are not entitled to any protection under the DV Act. Furthermore, certain guidelines were framed by the Apex Court in the aforesaid judgment to consider the live-in- relationships in the nature of marriage wherein the following observations were made:-

"We may, on the basis of above discussion cull out some guidelines for testing under what circumstances, a live-in relationship will fall within the expression "relationship in the nature of marriage" under Section 2(f) of the DV Act. The guidelines, of course, are not exhaustive, but will definitely give some insight to such relationships.

56.1 Duration of period of relationship- Section 2(f) of the DV Act has used the expression "at any point of time", which means a reasonable period of time to maintain and continue a relationship which may vary from case to case, depending upon the fact situation.

56.2 Shared household- The expression has been defined under Section 2(s) of the DV Act and, hence, need no further elaboration.

56.3 Pooling of Resources and Financial Arrangements Supporting each other, or any one of them, financially, sharing bank accounts, acquiring immovable properties in joint names or in the name of the woman, long term investments in business,