The Allahabad High Court has refused to grant relief to a married woman who had approached it seeking protection to live-in with someone after leaving her husband, on grounds that their act went against the mandate of the Hindu Marriage Act.
The court dismissed the petition filed by the live-in couple and asked them to deposit a fine of ₹5,000 to the U.P. State Legal Services Authority.
The live-in couple had sought directions from the court to the Sate and the woman’s family, including her husband, to not interfere and disturb the peaceful live-in relationship by adopting coercive measures.
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“Can we grant protection to the people who want to commit what can be said to be an act which is against the mandate of the Hindu Marriage Act?” a Division Bench of Justices Dr. Kaushal Jayendra Thaker and Dinesh Pathak asked on June 15.
“Article 21 of the Constitution of India may permit a person to have own liberty but the liberty has to be within the ambit of law which applies to them,” the court said.
The judges wondered if they could permit them to be “live-in-relation under the guise of protection of life and liberty”.
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Whether her husband had committed an act which can be said to be an offence under Section 377 of the I.P.C., which she has never complained of, all of these were disputed questions of facts, the court stated.
“There is no FIR. Therefore, we fail to understand how such a petition be allowed permitting illegality in the society,” the court said.