Individuals in live-in relationships are entitled to equal protection of life and liberty under the Constitution, even when societal acceptance is lacking.

JUDGMENT :

VIKAS BAHL, J.

1. The present Criminal Writ Petition has been filed under Article 226/227 of the Constitution of India for directing the official respondents to protect the life and liberty of the petitioners.

2. Learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that petitioner No.1 was born on 04.05.1997 and petitioner No.2 was born on 19.08.2000. Reliance has been placed upon the Aadhaar Cards (Annexures P-1 and P-2). It is submitted that the petitioners are major and are living in a “Live in Relationship” out of their free will and without any pressure. It is further submitted that the petitioners have given a detailed representation dated 16.06.2025 (Annexure P-3) to respondent No.2-Senior Superintendent of Police, Sangrur for protection of their life and liberty and has further submitted that petitioner No.1 was earlier married to respondent No.4 and she has been residing separately from respondent No.4 but no legal divorce has been taken from respondent No.4.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioners has relied upon the judgment dated 18.05.2021 passed by a Coordinate Bench of this Court in CRWP-4521-2021 titled as Pardeep Singh and another vs. State of Haryana and others in which protection has been granted in a case where the petitioners were living in “Live in Relationship”.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioners has further relied upon an order passed by a co-ordinate Bench of this Court dated 03.09.2021 in CRWP-7874-2021 titled as Paramjit Kaur and another vs. State of Punjab and others as per which although the divorce petition filed by petitioner no.2 therein was dismissed, yet this Court had granted protection to the petitioners.

5. Notice of motion to respondent Nos.1 to 3 only.

6. On advance notice, Mr. Surya Kumar, AAG, Punjab, appears and accepts notice on behalf of respondent Nos.1 to 3. He has stated that he has no objection in case, respondent No.2-Senior Superintendent of Police, Sangrur, looks into the representation dated 16.06.2025 (Annexure P-3) with a limited prayer for only protection of life and liberty of the petitioners and takes appropriate action, in accordance with law.

7. This Court has heard the learned counsel for the parties and has perused the paper book.

8. In Pardeep Singh's (supra), a co-ordinate Bench of this Court has held as under:-

“The Constitution of India is the Supreme Law of the land.

Right to life and liberty is enshrined therein and is treated as a basic feature. The said right includes the right of an individual to full development of his/her potential in accordance with his/her choice and wish and for such purpose, he/she is entitled to choose a partner of his/her choice. The individual also has the right to formalize the relationship with the partner through marriage or to adopt the non-formal approach of a live-in-relationship. The concept of live-in-relationships has crept into our society from western nations and initially, found acceptance in the metropolitan cities, probably because, individuals felt that formalization of a relationship through marriage was not necessary for complete fulfillment. Education played a great role in development of this concept. Slowly, the concept has percolated into small towns and villages also as is evident from this petition. This shows that social acceptance for live-in-relationships is on the increase. Inlaw, such a relationship is not prohibited nor does it amount to commission of any offence and thus, in my considered view such persons are entitled to equal protection of laws as any other citizen of the country. The law postulates that the life and