The Allahabad High Court recently said that a person professing Islam cannot claim the right to live-in relationship, particularly when he has a living spouse.
° Advocates Dhananjai Kumar Tripathi, Devendra Verma, Kajol, and Tanupriya represented the petitioner.
° Advocate SP Singh represented the State.
° Advocate Suyansh Kumar Pandey represented the complainant.
A division bench of Justice Attau Rahman Masoodi and Justice Ajai Kumar Srivastava reasoned that when the marital behavior of citizens is regulated under both statutory and personal laws, the customs are bound to be given equal significance.
“The customs and usages are an equal source of law recognized by the Constitution as the law made by the competent Legislature. Once there is a recognition of the customs and usages as a valid law within the framework of our Constitution, even such laws become enforceable in an appropriate case,” the Court said.
“This relief is sought in a situation where petitioner No.2 belonging to a different religion is already married and has a minor child of five years of age. The religious tenets to which the petitioner No.2 belongs to, does not permit live-in-relationship during the subsisting (existing) marriage.”
The Court opined that the position may be different if the two persons are unmarried and being major, choose to lead their lives in a way of their own.
“The constitutional morality in that situation may come to the rescue of such a couple and the social morality settled through the customs and usages over ages may give way to the constitutional morality and protection under Article 21 of the Constitution of India may step in to protect the cause”.
Thus, the Court said any further continuation of the live-in relationship cannot be granted while looking at the rights of the wife as well as the interest of the minor child.
The constitutional morality and social morality in the “matter of marriage institution” are required to be balanced. Otherwise, social coherence for achieving the object of peace and tranquility in society would fade and disappear, the Court said.
“Thus, the direction for continuation of a live-in-relationship as has been prayed for in the present writ petition, the Court would strongly deprecate and deny notwithstanding the fact that the constitutional protection remains available to a citizen of India,” the order stated.
The Court, therefore, directed the police to escort the man’s live-in partner to her parents' home and submit a report regarding it.
“The Court shall next go into the question of concealment of material facts and we find that the counsel appearing in the two cases has risked at his own cost to abuse the process of law,” the Bench said while listing the matter for further hearing on May 8.