Prayagraj: According to the Allahabad High Court (HC), two adults are free to share a home and nobody should be able to stifle their peaceful "live-in relationship."
The father of a girl in the Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh filed the first information report, which the court invalidated in this significant decision.
A division bench of Allahabad HC comprising Justice Suneet Kumar and Justice Syed Waiz Mian relied upon a judgment of the apex court which provided that a live-in relationship between the consenting adults is legal if the requirements of marriage, such as the legal age of marriage, consent and soundness of mind, are met.
No rule permits or bans such connections, the apex court had added.
In the landmark case of S. Khushboo Vs Kanniammal, the apex court held that a live-in relationship comes within the ambit of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, which provides that no person can be deprived of his life and personal liberty except according to the procedure established by law.
The court also held that live-in relationships are permissible, and the act of two adults living together cannot be considered "unlawful" or "illegal".
With inputs from IANS