Live-In Relationship: Indian Perspective

We are living in the 21st century where we all love to explore things, we all have our own ways to do any task or any work. We always look up to new trends whether it is in fashion, art music and many other things. We are getting influenced by the western culture one of the most trending cultures of theirs is live in relationships. Nowadays, live-in relationship is an emerging concept in India and it is becoming a new trend among our youth. Now the question is what is a live in relationship?? A live in relationship is a relationship between two adults who are of sound mind and are not bound by legal obligations arising in a marital institution. In simple terms, it is a relationship wherein two people cohabit together for all intents and purposes without formally getting married. The concept of live-in relationship seems to have emerged with a view to understand the complexities in a relationship that could arise while cohabiting together, without actually getting into the legal implications and a more serious commitment that is involved in a regular marriage.

Legality of Live-In relationship in India

Laws on live in relationships are still not very much clear in india. In regards to status of live in relationship in India the Supreme court ruled that any of the couple who are cohabiting together for a long period of time they would be presumed as legally married unless proven otherwise. The indian society in general is becoming more familiar with the concept of pre marital sex and live-in relationships. There are many good factors which are helping Indian society to become familiar with these concepts. The major of them are: Improved education, Globalisation, freedom, privacy and many other things. In metropolitan cities like mumbai, delhi, kolkata, bengaluru e.t.c couples are influenced towards these kinds of relationships. But for small states like Bihar still this is taboo people consider it bad for a man and women to cohabit together without getting married. In a landmark case of S.khushboo v/s kanniammal ?The Supreme Court held that a livin-in relationship comes within the ambit of right to life and liberty under Article 21 of indian constitution. The court further stated that live-in relationships are permissible and the act of two major living together cannot be considered as illegal or unlawful. This case tends to give clarity to the legal status of live-in relationships. Legalising live-in relationships would require special legislation as if there is no special legislation for live-in relationship in India.?

There are many positive sides of being in a live-in relationship one of the amongs is that the couple has lesser responsibilities in comparison to marriage other than this couple tend to have low legal issues they can get easily separated rather than getting a divorce. They can easily divide their expenses unless in marriage where the whole responsibility to incur expenses is upon the male partner. In a landmark case of Revanasiddappa v/s mallikarjun honourable justice A.K ganguly stated “ with changing norms of legitimacy in every society including ours, what was illegitimate in the past may be legitimate today”. Allahabad high court recognised the concept of live in relationship in case of payal sharma v/s Nari Niketan that a major man and woman can stay together without getting married if they want and it's not illegal. Supreme court in case of Badri Prasad v/s Director of consolidation In this case a man and woman lived together for 50 years without getting married. The supreme court recognised this as a strong wedlock. The court further stated that the ‘presumption was rebuttable but a heavy burden lies on the person who seeks to deprive the relationship of legal origin to prove that no marriage took place.?

????????????????????????????????RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN LIVE-IN RELATIONSHIP

As we know live-in relationships, legal status is still not very much clear in India but still there are some rights which are provided to a woman in Live-in relationship. These are the rights provided to them for protecting themselves from any abuses from their partner. In case of tulsa v/s Durghatiya the supreme court recognised that there would be a presumption of marriage where there has been long cohabitation.

Right to maintenance:

In a landmark case of D. velusamy v/s D. Patchaiammal the supreme court held that women in a live-in relationship are not entitled to maintenance. Spending vacation? or making a one night stand would not be considered as a domestic relationship. Later on a bench of judges laid down four essential conditions for a woman in order to get maintenance these are:

1. The couple must hold themselves out to society as being akin to spouses.
2. They must be of legal age to marry.
3. They must be otherwise qualified to enter a legal marriage
4. They must be voluntarily cohabited and held themselves out to the world as being akin to spouses for a significant period.

All live-in relationships will be regarded as the nature of marriage. If a man maintains a woman just for sexual purposes it would not amount to a relationship in the nature of marriage. In 2013 by the report of Malimath Committee ?sec 125 of CrPc was fused to adjust the meaning of ‘wife’ and extended it to include women who were in a live-in relationship. This would guarantee that her financial needs were taken care of by the partner . a woman has got all the protection against all types of abuses in a live-in relationship just like a married woman has. The domestic violence act,2005 guarantees the woman protection against the abuses done to him by the partner. In case of Abhijit Bhikasethi auti v/s state of Maharashtra the Bombay high court stated that it is not necessary for a woman to strictly establish the marriage to claim maintenance under sec 125 of CrPc.

In case of Narayan Jagluji Thool & ors. v/s Mala Chandan Wani sec 2(f) of protection of women from domestic violence act 2005 does not require that a woman should be wife and it is enough that she is living with a man in a relationship which is similar to that of marriage.?

Status of children born out of live-in relationships!!

Couples in a live-in relationship are not allowed to adopt a child as per the guidelines governing the adoption of children. In a case of S.P.S Balasubramanyam v/s suruttayan The supreme court stated that “if a man and a woman are living under the same roof? and cohabiting for some years there will be presumption under section 114 of Indian Evidence Act that they have lived as husband and wife and a child born to them will not be regarded illegitimate. It is clear from here that a child born out of a live-in relationship is legitimate; he/she has all the rights of inheritance from his/her parents. In a landmark case of Revanasiddappa v. Mallikarjun the supreme court stated that irrespective of the relationship between parents, birth of a child out of such a relationship has to be viewed independently of the relationship of the parents.?

Inheritance Right of Child Born out of Live-in Relationship

In a landmark case of vidyadhari v/s sukhrana bai the court granted the inheritance to the child born out of live-in relationship and granted him legal status according to sec 21 of Hindu Adoption Act, 1956 a son/daughter whether legitimate or illegitimate till the time he is minor and so long the daughter is unmarried she shall be entitled to maintenance by his/her father or mother or from his estate of his/her deceased father. In case of Bharat Matha v/s vijaya Renganathan the supreme court held that a child born out of a live-in relationship may be allowed to inherit the property of parents. Sec 16 of hindu marriage act, 1955 grants legitimacy to children born out of live-in relationship but their right to ancestral property still remains unclear and varies from case to case.

Child Custody In Live-In Relationships

There is no legislation regarding this issue. In a case of Shamrao Maroti Rorwate v/s Deepak Kishan Rao Teekam held that the word ‘welfare’ needs to be taken and referred literally and in a broad manner. There is the Guardians and Wards act, 1980 which is complementary to Hindi Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 these are the acts which are to be read together and implemented in matters of child custody in these all kinds of child custody. Even in the live-in relationship the law might guarantee the natural guardianship to the male Partner.?

Live -In relationships may have emphasised our youth and left an impact on their lives but in India laws relating to these relationships are very unclear. While courts in some cases recognised the live-in relationship and denied in some of the cases. Our society is becoming familiar with these new concepts. It is always good to learn something new. If the people have to? follow the legal obligation in live-in relationships too why then the couple will opt for live-in they will prefer marriage. Every relationship has its own pros and cons. With the increasing numbers of live-in relationships the rights of couples in a live-in relationship should be legally recognised!!.