In an observation that will cheer votaries of pre-marital sex and live-in partners, the Supreme Court today opined that a man and woman living together without marriage cannot be construed as an offence.
“When two adult people want to live together what is the offence? Does it amount to an offence? Living together is not an offence. It cannot be an offence,” a three judge bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Deepak Verma and B.S. Chauhan observed.
The apex court said there was no law which prohibits live-in relationship or pre-marital sex.
The apex court made the observation while reserving its judgement on a special leave petition filed by noted south Indian actor Kushboo seeking to quash 22 criminal cases filed against her after she allegedly endorsed pre-maritial sex in interviews to various magazines in 2005.
The judges grilled the counsel for some of the complainants in the case and repeatedly stressed that the perceived immoral activities cannot be branded as offence.
The argument of the counsel was that her comments allegedly endorsing pre-marital sex would adversely affect the minds of young people leading to decay in moral values and country’s ethos.
“Please tell us what is the offence and under which section. Living together is a right to life,” the apex court said apparently referring to Article 21 which granted Right to Life and Liberty as a Fundamental Right.
The apex court further said the views expressed by Ms. Khusboo were personal.
“How does it concern you? We are not bothered. At the most it is a personal view. How is it an offence? Under which provision of the law?” the bench asked the counsel.
The apex court further asked the complainants to produce evidence to show if any girls eloped from their homes after the said interview.
“How many homes have been affected can you tell us,” the Bench asked while enquiring whether the complainants had daughters. When the response was in the negative, they shot back, “Then, how are you adversely affected?”
Ms. Khusboo had approached the apex court after the Madras High Court in 2008 dismissed her plea for quashing the criminal cases filed against her throughout Tamil Nadu.
Keywords: Living Together, pre-marital sex, marriage, Supreme Court, Kushboo
Comments:
Living together without marriage is a human right and it should not be mixed with culture.The strains of marrige should not demy a person to enjoy sex.What the judges had meted out should enlighten parents as to undstand that their daughters and sons need sexual pleasure with respect and it is not by sale.
Hats off to Kushboo and appreciate the bold announcement of judges. Let's see a matured india in the future.
Great decision by the SC. Self appointed moral police have no business in dictating the private lives of individuals.
Just because you dont agree with the other person's point of view (in this case, Kushboo's), it doesnt make them criminals. It is called freedom of speech, Hats off to Kushboo! It takes lot of courage and determination to stand up against bigorty and prejudice. And living toegther is far better than the so called 'arranged marriages' which leads to loveless marriage, marital rape, wife abuse, domestic violence, supression of women etc etc.
What supreme court said is not against culture. Its actually in favour of good culture that we indians had before sexism, casteism, hypocracy had creeped in.
It is unfortunate that it even had to go to court but it is great to see the outcome!
I applaud the supreme court for it's stand in this matter. There has to be a clear distinction between a set of moral values, and the law of the land.
"Living together" was once known as "living in sin". Since those days, the world has changed a great deal. The question here is not as much about whether it is right or wrong - but whether we as a society can dictate the private lives of our citizens.
The supreme court has been very right in questioning if the law is broken when two consenting adults decide to live together. As long as there is no violation of the law, it should not be anyone's concern.
Can this judgment be used against the self made moral polices like MNS, Bajrangdal and other such parties that made news in Mangalore and Bangalore recently? Why the State Governments are soft against such groups? Why not take action against such immediately? Where goes democracy then? Double standards and double talks are here to stay. Long live the Politico-Democracy!
True. It feels very good to know that in spite of the bias about women and the rampant moral policing in the name of god, religion, moral values etc., there still are a bunch of able, sensible and wise judges running the highest court of law in our country.
Finally It looks like India is marching towards a matured democracy. Highly appreciate this bold judgement and comments.
This is a Great Decision.Hats off to the Supreme Court and hope the moral policemen, parties, politicians, and organisations of our nation keep their mouth Shut once and for all.
This is a fantastic decision by the SC,which continues to be an epitome of prudence and perspicacity. Is it not a fundamental right of the citizens to live as they choose to? Being offended by others' views and actions at the drop of a hat, seems to have become a norm.
A good blow to self proclaimed moral police brigades. Now the hypocrites should be silenced until another progressive person is made a scapegoat. Until then, long live freedom of speech in India !
The very fact that our Judiciary is taking 5 years to deliver justice in 2010 for a speech made in 2005 is highly disheartening though. We are compelled to question why the Madras High Court dismissed Khushboo's plea to dismiss the criminal proceedings against her in the lower courts.
Hats off; India surely will fall now; We stood more than 5000 yrs for our values and culture, which made our country & religion to still stand and have a place in this world. Now its absolute that India as a state is going to fall. None can stand without a culture.
The Supreme Court has taken a legalistic view in disposing of the case, and rightly so. However, the time-tested societal laws concerning marriages and family relationships need to be honored. So, it would be welcomed if celebrities who are endowed with the power to influence masses could avoid expressing drastic views. However, infringing one's right to express opinion, however it might be unpalatable to some, is to be upheld. Harassing them, in whatever way, should be condemned.
Khushboo expressed her personal opinion. I expected the court would just uphold her right to endorse anything, for, we can't police a man's thought process !
Instead, the court went one step ahead to share her opinion. Is it that our judiciary wants to express its opinion on everything under the sun ? If so, let's ask Khushboo what she thinks about gay marriages, political harthals, OBC reservation or anything else.
landmark judgement made by the apex court. Our democracy is awesome. and the supreme court judge are powerful in their judgement. I salute the judge and the apexcourt for the same
My friend Stephen is elated. He says marriage is his last choice. He would marry some woman only if he cannot get that woman in any other way he wanted. He also tells me that he has not become bad enough as to marry a woman so soon in life. He is already 45. What if other bachelors take a leaf from his life to emulate?
A judgement that makes sense in a country where all types of nonsense goes around in the name of culture. India will escape from bottom of the list of countries based on Human Development Index only when people, and society at large, do not poke their nose in the life of individuals. What a man and woman, who are adults, do in the privacy of their room and which does not physically injure another person is no business of the society or the rest of the people.
I guess all the same arguments against this judgement, like our old culture, our value system etc, were also thrown around when other progressive steps like abolishing sati, abolishing child marriage, allowing backward people equal rights etc were taken.
On the one side, we in India, have a semi-literate society that does not hesitate to glorify violence, impossible romance and sex in movies, and on the other side, rigid social structures and a bunch of people who act as moral police and think it is in their prerogative to check people's personal lives. The result is a frustrated, stunted, and sexually immature society. Not to forget that India has one of the highest number of HIV infected people. The so-called champions of Indian culture do not however for once, pause to question WHY all this is taking place. Of course, it is ever so easy to transfer the blame onto the west, which the moral police thinks it can interpret without even setting its foot there. Better than trying to stifle and suppress natural feelings,and impose unscientific standards, would be to offer a transparent healthy sex education to youngsters, informing them of their rights, and making them more aware of sexual matters, safety etc. Indian culture has a lot to gain by cultivating a well-informed society of mature and healthy people, which can enjoy normal human freedom, and making them more critically aware of the social contexts they live in, rather than producing deadened and numbed conformists for whom even the freedom of speech is a crime.
It is also pertinent to ask why rapes, molestations, and other crimes against women are commonplace in India.
I beiieve in social security,family bonding and after all marriage followed by living together. An adult definitely should choose his or her partner. But pre marital sex and living together without recognition from the family members will disrupt the relationship and ethics of our Indian culture.
Good judgment by SC. Living together is a human right and these things or anyone's personal opinion should not be mixed with one's morality or our culture.
The decision of apex court on liv-in relatonship is not acceptable. We are Indians and we will follow our culture.
A wise decision by the S.C.
This ruling should have come a before years. Better late than never.
well the supreme court has encouraged democracy!! by this legendary decision nd as far as falling of india goes then let me ask casteism dowry honour killing goes frequetly in our country aren't these things leading to a fall of our country????? if not then how can individual choice to liv according to themselves will lead to a fall of our country!!
I wish, this also gets implemented to ground reality.
People openly accepts such relationships, then only this decision, i would say to be implemented.
Because at ground level, society will not accept this...
Everything on EARTH is changable.Nothing remains like yestrday.Every thing has changed in the past 20years in India but Why we are continued with life time risky old marital system.This might be good in the past but in a fast changing scenerio how can we continue with old system whereas we have changed almost every system?Particularly it shud b seen with endless sex crimes,increasing dangerous HIV cases,falling male/female ratio.And to add in the problem girls are not willing to marry these days!!One does not marries to take divorce or to go for live in relationship in future but what will happen when one day he or she finds that things are not gud as expected and life is going hell? 80% married couples are unhappy and pulling their lives unpleasantly!!!LIVE IN RELATIONSHIP will b a sigh of relief to start their life again.There are already so many rules to help females in India and misused by them but is there any rule to help males..???Just to please your 50% vote bank of female voters u dont want a gud & healthy solution?How one can live with somebody whom he or she dosenot like at all??Divorce by a female is simple and extremely complexed for a male. If u make an opinion poll of married couples wheather they want to change there partners then perhaps 80% (both male/female)will opt for change.This judgement has brought a new hope in the hopeless and falling ratio of married life for both man & woman.I salute the judges for there far sightedness & excellent judgement.In my opinion Legalisation of "DANCE BARS" will b one another gud step to stop endless sex crimes which will b beneficial to both male and female population directly or indirectly.When the GAY RELATIONS are legalised,there is no harm in doing the same with it also which will give the real sense of "SOCIO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT" &"FREEDOM" in INDIA.
I hope all the local cops are updated about the news, if not first they must be aware about the judgment coz they are the one who still try to disturb young couple who wants live-in relationship.
Those who are actually appreciating and welcoming this decision have no long term view, they are only seeing it from the lens of personal and individualistic experience, not from the view of what is actually beneficial for the society. They are unaware of the social disaster and degradation such alien concepts have introduced in the West - indeed West is on a moral decline in spite of having progressed so much materially. When certain bunch of people are welcoming it, its only because of the fact that they feel that emulating the West in this and other matter is the only India can be "prosperous"(in Western sense). They are more interested in enjoying their rights rather than be responsible towards their society and values. In the days of freedom struggle, we have individuals who even did not hesitate to sacrifice their lives for the sake of freedom - now we have people who are not even able to responsibly contribute - so much for sacrificing!
Instead of blindly aping the West in these matters, individuals should see the observation in its depth, its impact in West and evaluate it critically before even commenting on it. Its unfortunate that even the courts did not take such a view.