Dismissing a protection plea sought by a young couple that had eloped together from their respective houses, the Punjab and Haryana High Court said that a live-in relationship is “morally and socially unacceptable”.
The incident took place after Gulza Kumari, a 19-year-old woman and Gurwinder Singh, a 22-year-old man reached the court to seek protection for life and liberty from their families and relatives. They claimed that the woman’s parents were a threat to their lives. The couple was since then living together, basically a live-in relationship, and wanted to get married to each other soon.
However, the High Court bench consisting of Justice HS Madaan said on May 11th that their plea doesn’t fall in line with the morals of the society and hence cannot be accepted.
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“As a matter of fact, the petitioners in the garb of filing the present petition are seeking seal of approval on their live-in-relationship, which is morally and socially not acceptable and no protection order in the petition can be passed. The petition stands dismissed accordingly,” he said.
JS Thakur, the advocate for Ms Kumari and Mr Singh, said in the court that the two were currently living together in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district. The woman’s parents live in Ludhiana and do not approve of her relationship with the man, he said, while adding that the couple couldn’t get married to each other as Ms Kumari’s documents proving her age were with her family.
Following the announcement of the order, the petitioner’s counsel Thakur said, “As the Supreme Court (SC) has already upheld the live-in relationship, we had approached the HC seeking directions to protect their life and liberty till they get married. As of now, they were in a live-in relationship to avoid the wrath of the girl’s family that was against their relationship.” He did not, however, comment on the order.
In another case, a different bench of the High Court said that if they do accept the plea to give directions for protection of an eloped couple who are in a “live-in relationship”, the “social fabric of the society would get disturbed”.
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The petition was filed by Ujjawal and Manpreet, a couple from Punjab who sought HC’s orders for their protection from the girl’s (Ujjawal) kin.
Rejecting it, the bench had observed, “Petitioner No 1 (girl) is barely 18 years old whereas petitioner No 2 (boy) is 21 years old. They claim to be residing together in a live-in relationship and claim protection of their life and liberty from the girl’s relatives. In the considered view of this bench, if such protection as claimed is granted, the entire social fabric of the society would get disturbed.”
Many lawyers and civil rights activists heavily criticized and slammed the HC’s order as they argued how the lower court could reject a petition over a matter already recognized by the Supreme Court.
