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Denying police protection to a couple of a widow and a married man, the Rajasthan High Court recently observed that such a relationship does not qualify as a legal Live-in relationship and rather, is a "purely illegal and anti-social relationship."

The Bench of Justice Satish Kumar Sharma held,

"Granting police protection to such a relation would amount to validating their illegal relationship and indirectly giving consent to such relations which are not lawful. "

The matter before the Bench was a plea having been filed under section 482 CrPC by a widow and her partner, a man,  whose first marriage was still subsisting and valid.

The widow submitted before the Court that she had lost her husband and since had been living with her 3 children and so, she decided to marry the man, who was living separately from his wife.

The couple also submitted before the court that they got married in a temple earlier in June this year as per Hindu customs and rituals and since they are living as Husband and Wife.

However, the woman claimed that private respondents in the case were not happy with the petitioners' relation and had been threating the couple. She said that the private respondents were even ready to kill them.

Therefore, stating that their life is in danger, the couple knocked the door of the court seeking police protection.

At the outset, the Court observed the alleged marriage between the widow and her male partner is void-ab-Initio, as the marriage of the man with his wife is still subsisting and valid

Court stated,

"The indisputable position that is emerging from the material available on record is that the petitioner No. 2 (man) is already married. He is not divorced from his ex-wife, meaning thereby, his first marriage is still subsisting.”

Court further noted,

“The petitioner No. 1 is of course a widow, but her marriage to an already married person is effectively void-ab-initio."

Therefore, while dismissing the plea, the court granted the couple liberty to file a report in the concerned police station as per law, if any offense will be committed against them.

Observing as abovementioned, the Bench relied upon Allahabad High Court's ruling in Smt. Aneeta & Anr. Vs. State of U.P. & Ors. In which the High Court had observed that live-in-relationships cannot be allowed at the cost of the social fabric of this country and that without obtaining a divorce, a spouse is not entitled to protection qua a relationship with another person.

Also, it is also to be noted here that last week, the Punjab & Haryana High Court in Paramjit Kaur and another v. State of Punjab and others had expressed its disagreement with the Allahabad HC's observation. The High Court held that if two adults are in a live-in relationship with each other, even though they are already married to someone else, no offence would be made out.

Case Title: Seema Devi and Anr. v. State of Rajasthan and Ors.