Observing that middle-class morality cannot be ignored in a nation like India, the Allahabad High Court criticised live-in relationships and said that there is a “systematic design to destroy the institution of marriage… destabilise the society and hinder the progress of our country”.
Granting bail to a man accused of raping his live-in partner, Justice Siddharth said in his order on Tuesday that “the security, social acceptance, progress and stability which the institution of marriage provides to a person is never provided by live-in-relationship”.
“Live-in relationship shall only be considered as normal after the institution of marriage becomes obsolete in this country, like in many of the so-called developed countries where it has become a big problem for them to protect institution of marriage. We are proceeding to create great problem for us in future. There is systematic design to destroy the institution of marriage in this country and destabilise the society and hinder the progress of our country,” he stated.
“The films and the TV serials being aired are contributing to eradicate the institution of marriage. The infidelity to a partner in married relationship and having free live-in relationship are being shown as signs of progressive society. The youth get attracted to such philosophy being… unaware of the long-term consequences,” he further said in the order.
The order went on to say that while it is not difficult for men coming out of a live-in relationship to find a female partner for marriage or for another live-in relationship, it is “very difficult” for women to find a male partner for marriage. “…the social middle-class norms, irrespective of religion of the female partner, militate against her efforts to regain her social status,” said the court in its order.
Talking about women coming out of live-in relationships, the court said, “Exception apart, no family willingly accepts such a female as their family member. There is no dearth of cases coming to the courts where the female partner of an erstwhile live-in-relationship commit suicide out of disgust caused by social ill behaviour.”
The court said that “middle-class morality cannot be ignored in a country like ours”. “Our country consists mostly of the middle class. The stability, social, political and economic, of a nation depends on the size of the middle class only. The morality of the highest class and the lowest class has nothing to do with the same since morality dies in riches and chokes in poverty. For the highest class there is no morality and the lowest class cannot afford to follow the same due to compulsions of poverty. The security, social acceptance, progress and stability which the institution of marriage provides to a person is never provided by a live-in-relationship.”
It said that “a person not having cordial family relationships cannot contribute to the progress of the nation”. “He/she has no anchor in life to bank upon. Hopping from one relationship to another does not lead to any fulfilling existence. The brutish concept of changing partners in every season cannot be considered to be the hallmark of a stable and healthy society,” said the court.
It also went on to say that “children born from such relationships (live-in) face lots of problems”. “When their parents separate, they become a burden on society. They fall in the wrong company and national loss of good citizens occurs.”
The court said that “in the case of a female child born out of live-in-relationship there are other ill effects which are too obvious to be elaborated”.
Talking about Pakistan, the court said that “the absence of middle class and middle-class morality” in the country “is ample testimony of the social, political, religious, ethical and other types of unrest”.
The court was hearing the bail application of a man from Saharanpur district who has been in jail since April 18, booked under IPC sections 376 (rape), 316 (causing death of quick unborn child by act amounting to culpable homicide) and 506 (criminal intimidation), and under the POCSO Act.
It was alleged that the applicant “befriended the victim for the last one year and committed the offence of rape on false promise of marriage for one year of her live-in relationship with him”. Among the allegations were that “when the victim became pregnant he gave medicine for abortion of foetus” and that the applicant “made incriminating video of the victim and on the basis of the same he threatened her and committed offence of rape all through against her”.
The applicant’s lawyer Sadrul Islam Jafri submitted that the victim, in her statement recorded under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), admitted that she was in a live-in relationship with the applicant for a year and entered into a physical relation with consent and got pregnant. “As per the ossification test report of the victim, she has been found to be of 19 years. Therefore, she is major, not minor,” the lawyer told the court.
Most Read
Opposing the bail prayer of the applicant, the counsel for the informant submitted that “as per school leaving certificate of Class VIII, the victim is aged about 16 years and 8 months only”. He has further submitted that the applicant may be directed to marry the victim since he has spoiled the life of the victim.
After hearing the contentions, the court said that it “finds that this is another case where after enjoying the live-in-relationship the young couple have parted ways”.
“The girl, like in majority of cases, has lodged FIR in vain bid to enter into secure relationship of marriage with the applicant and come within ambit of the socially accepted norms and relationship of marriage,” the court said.
If you want to register your marriage in thane visit : https://marriageregistrationthane.com/court-marriage-registration-in-thane