What is live-in relationship?
Date : 30 Mar, 2021
Post By Bhupender Tanwar
The mindset of people is changing with time, slowly people are adopting the things which are either against the societal norms or western culture one of such things is to live in relationship. According to Indian culture, men and women can not live together. A live-in relationship basically means living together without marriage. In this blog we are going to discuss what is living together with a relationship, a live-in relationship meaning, is there any live-in relation act or what is live-in relationship without divorce means, and is there any supreme court judgment on live-in relationship 2019?
Live-in relationship meaning: Live-in relationship means when two people or a couple live together in a house as married but not legally married. They do not have any responsibility as a married couple and are not obligated to the same then it is said to be a live-in relationship. Marriage is considered as a very big step and life-changing decision of an individual, it not just binds a man and a woman but also binds two families. Earlier it was considered that the society is run by men and women were not allowed to talk or have any say but today women are independent and have their own opinions also they are empowered which makes it necessary to see whether the couple are compatible or not.
In a marriage, husband and wife have to be equal but every person has a different personality, and to share a life a person or partner has to be the right match. Today people are a little scared and hesitate whether the after-marriage life with the person they are would be good and happy. Hence they prefer a live-in relationship, it helps them figure out whether the person they are with is the right match or not if they think that it is not going well then they can call it off or break up. But in marriage, if things are not good then either they drag the marriage for some reason or they take divorce which is legal and takes time and also involves families.
Parents or elders are not in support of this type of relationship because they believe that pre-marital sex is against the Indian culture and also they consider it as an illegitimate relationship and important reason is if children born out of such relation then the child would be considered as illegitimate too. Therefore the couple mostly avoids letting them know about their relationship.
Laws related to Live-in relationship: There is no specific law on live-in relationship or related to live-in relationship. But to protect the woman from being misused in the name of live-in relationship or to protect the women who get into live-in relationship on the promise made by a man that he will marry or to protect the rights of children born out of this type of relationship. Therefore in different acts, there are certain laws mentioned to protect the rights of children and women.
Domestic violence Act 2005: Live in relationship first acknowledged by the Domestic Violence Act 2005 for the rights and protection of women who are living with men without marriage. Under this Act section 2(f) talks about the domestic relationship, it states a relation between a man and a woman who lives together in a house and share the households who are either married or the relation is the nature of marriage. It did not specifically talk about live-in relationship but laws and sections are made to interpret sometimes therefore the expression “nature of marriage” is left for interpretation by the court. And protects the rights of women in such relationships.
Criminal Procedure Code, 1973: Section 125 of CrPC talks about the maintenance for wife or children or parents. It describes the meaning of wife as a lady who was in a live-in relationship but now left by the partner can get the title of wife, in other words, it describes if the lady is in live-in relationship for a specific time, she can acquire the rights as a legitimate spouse and can also claim for the maintenance under this section.
Evidence Act, 1872: This Act also not specifically talks about the live-in relation but the Act talks about the may and shall presumption. If the man and a woman are or were in a live-in relationship for a specific time then there is an assumption of marriage.
Landmark Case on live in relationship: S.Khushboo v. Kanniammal:- In this case the Supreme Court held that if two adults decided to live together it's their right to life which is given under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution therefore live-in relationship cannot be unlawful or illegal. Court has also mentioned some of the key points to consider the relationship between a couple as live in relationship which are as follows: Time period of relationship: Domestic Violence Act states that “at any point of time”, hence the time period of relationship depends on fact and situation of different cases. Sharing households: To claim for the rights and protection the couple who is living together should be sharing their household chores like a married couple. Resource and Financial issues: If the couple has brought a property jointly or share the finance they can claim for their rights. Physical Relationship: If the couple is not just living together but also having a physical relationship then they claim for their rights and their relationship is called a live-in relationship. Children: If there are children from a live-in relationship it is the clear sign of “nature of marriage”. Socialisation: If the appearance of a man and a woman is as a couple in the society and people consider them as husband and wife, they can claim for the rights. Children born out of live in relationship: The tag or status of illegitimacy can ruin someone’s life specially if the tag is on a child, this may spoil the development and growth of children and can scare them for life. There to protect the children from such issues, courts consider the child as legitimate who are born out of live in relationship. There are certain cases which talks about the status of such children:- S.P.S.Balasubhramanyam v. Suruttayan: This was the first case where the Court considered the child born out of live-in relationship as legitimate. In this case the Court held that if a man and a woman are living together and having physical relationship for a certain period of time, it is presumed under the Evidence Act that they are husband and wife and since they are considered as husband and wife the children born from such relation is legitimate and legal. Get in touch with the best lawyer online Tulsa v. Durghatiya: In this case the Supreme Court held that the children who are born out of a live-in relationship cannot be considered as illegitimate from now on. The main condition for such consideration is that the parents must have lived together in one house and had a physical relationship for such a period of time to convince the society that they are husband and wife. Bharatha Matha v. R. Vijay Renganathan: Supreme Court held that to protect the children from the tag of bastard by making the interpretation of law broad, especially if there is no fault of the children. The Court held that such children may claim for the inheritance of property from the parents. The property can be self acquired or ancestral.
