Rajasthan High Court terms live-in relationship with married woman 'illicit', denies police protection

The petition was filed by a 30-year-old married woman and a 27-year-old man from the Jhunjhunu district before the single-judge bench of Justice Satish Kumar Sharma.

Image courtesy: ANI

Jaipur: A single-judge bench of Rajasthan High Court recently termed a live-in relationship between a man and a married woman "illicit". The bench denied police protection to the woman on August 12, as she submitted before the court that she was a victim of domestic violence after which she left her husband's house.

The plea was filed by a 30-year-old married woman and a 27-year-old man from the Jhunjhunu district before the single-judge bench of Justice Satish Kumar Sharma.

During the hearing, the counsel for the petitioners submitted that both the petitioners are adults and are consensually in a live-in relationship.

The petition said the woman is married but has been living separately because of physical abuse by her husband.

"It is clear from examining all the documents of both sides that petitioner number 1 is already married. She has not got a divorce but despite that, she is staying with petitioner number 2 in a live-in relationship. In such a scenario, the live-in relationship between the two comes under the category of an illicit relationship," says the court order.

While passing the order, Justice Sharma also cited a recent order of the Allahabad High Court, wherein it had rejected the request for police protection in a similar case. 

Earlier this month, the Allahabad High Court dismissed protection plea of a married woman staying in a live-in relationship with her partner. The court observed that live-in-relationship cannot be at the cost of social fabric of this country.

A division bench of Justices Dr Kaushal Jayendra Thaker and Subhash Chandra observed, “Directing the police to grant protection to them may indirectly give our assent to such illicit relations.”  The bench also called the woman's live-in relationship with her partner illicit. 

Notably, the married woman had filed petition seeking direction for her security as she was living with a live-in partner. 

(With Agency Inputs)