SC rejects PIL seeking registration norms for live-in relationships, calls it ‘hare-brained’

New Delhi: The Supreme Court dismissed a PIL that requested the creation of regulations for the registration of all live-in relationships with the Centre on Monday.

The bench, led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, referred to the idea as "hare-brained" and asked the petitioner's counsel, lawyer Mamta Rani, whether the goal was to promote the security of those in live-in relationships or discourage such relationships altogether.

Rani responded that the petitioner sought to register these relationships to improve social security measures for those involved.

"What does the Centre has to do with registration of live-in relationships? What kind of hare-brained idea is this? It is high time this court starts imposing costs on petitioners who file these kinds of PILs. Dismissed," the bench also comprising Justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala said.

The PIL was filed by Rani seeking a direction to the Centre to frame rules for registration of live-in relationships as it cited the increase in crimes like rape and murder allegedly committed by live-in partners.

The plea, which referred to the recent killing of Shraddha Walkar allegedly by her live-in partner Aaftab Amin Poonawala, also sought framing of rules and guidelines for registration of such relationships.

The PIL said registration of live-in relationships would lead to accurate information being available to both the live-in partners about each other and the government regarding their marital status, criminal history and other relevant details.

Besides the increase in crimes like rape and murder, the plea said there has been a "huge increase in false rape cases filed by women wherein they claim to be living in live-in relationships with the accused, and it is always difficult for the courts to find out from the evidence whether the fact of living in live-in relationships is proved by the backing of evidence".

With PTI Input