IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA

AT CHANDIGARH

CRWP-189-2026

Date of decision: 13.01.2026

SONIA DEVI AND ANR. ….Petitioners

Versus

STATE OF PUNJAB AND ORS. ....Respondents

CORAM:- HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE RUPINDERJIT CHAHAL

Present:- Mr. Sanjeev Kumar, Advocate for the petitioners

..…

RUPINDERJIT CHAHAL, J. (ORAL)

1. The present petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for issuance of direction to respondent Nos.1 to 3 to protect life and liberty of the petitioners at the hands of respondent Nos.4 & 5 as they are in a 'live-in relationship' against the wishes of their family

members.

2. Learned counsel for the petitioners refers to the averments made in the petition, to state that both the petitioners are major and the date of birth of petitioner No.1 is 25.05.2006 and year of birth of petitioner No.2 is 2005. The copies of their Aadhaar cards are appended as Annexures P-1 and P-2, respectively. The petitioners are stated to be in a 'live-in relationship', on account of which family members of the

petitioners are giving threats to them.

3. Notice of motion.

4. At the asking of the Court, Mr. Ravinder Singh, DAG Punjab, accepts notice on behalf of respondent Nos.1 to 3 and has no objection in deciding the representation filed on behalf of the petitioners.

5. The issue as to whether marriage is a must for providing protection to a couple in a 'live-in relationship', keeping in view the fundamental rights ensured under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, has been considered by the different Benches of this Court in CRWP-4521- 2021 titled as ‘Pardeep Singh and another vs. State of Haryana and others’ decided on 18.05.2021; CRWP-8081-2021 titled as ‘Goutam Kumar and another vs. State of Punjab and others’ decided on 26.08.2021 and also by the Division Bench in LPA 769-2021 titled as ‘Ishrat Bano and another vs. State of Punjab and others’ decided on 03.09.2021 and in LPA 1678-2014 titled as ‘Rajwinder Kaur and another vs. State of Punjab and others’ decided on 09.10.2014.

6. This Court in Pardeep Singh's case(supra) while granting protection to the petitioners therein, where they were residing in a live-in relationship, had 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 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 oursociety 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. In law, 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 liberty of every individual is precious and must be protected irrespective of individual views. The Constitutional Courts grant protection to couples, who have married against the wishes of their respective parents. They seek protection of life and liberty from their parents and family members, who disapprove of the alliance. An identical situation exits where the couple has entered into a live-in-relationship. The only diffe