Allahabad high court's recent observation that a married man living in a consensual live-in relationship with an adult is not committing an offence is reportedly a contradiction of one of its own previous observations. A married man's live-in relationship is not an offence, observed the Allahabad high court on March 25 (Unsplash/Representative)
A married man's live-in relationship is not an offence, observed the Allahabad high court on March 25, saying that social morality cannot override court's duty to protect citizens' rights
A Division Bench of Justice JJ Munir and Justice Tarun Saxena was hearing a plea seeking protection of a live-in couple facing threats from the woman's family, according to a Bar and Bench report.
"There is no offence of the kind where a married man, staying with an adult in a live-in relationship, by consent of the other person, can be prosecuted for any offence, whatsoever. Morality and law have to be kept apart. If there is no offence under the law made out, social opinions and morality will not guide the action of the Court for protecting the rights of citizens," law portal Bar and Bench quoted the court as saying.
Allahabad HC's U-turn The above-mentioned observation, that a married man's live-in relationship is not an offence, was reportedly a contradiction of its own statements made by a single judge on March 20 while denying protection to a live-in couple.
The court on March 20 had said that a married individual cannot legally be permitted to enter into a live-in relationship with a third person without first obtaining a divorce from his/her spouse, according to LiveLaw.
“If the petitioners are already married and have their spouse alive, heshe cannot be legally permitted to enter into live-in relationship with a third person without seeking divorce from the earlier spse. He/she first ha to obtain the decree of divorce from the court of competent jurisdiction before solemnizing marriage or entering into living in a relationship out of their legal marriage,” the Allahabad HC had observed, according to a screen grab of the observation shared by LiveLaw on X.