In a recent important decision, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has said that live-in couples who are facing security threats are also entitled to protection, even if one of the couple is married to someone else. Hearing a case of Yash Pal vs State Government, a bench of Justice Suresh Thakur and Justice Sudipti Sharma said that despite the social and moral impact of such live-in relationships, the couple has also been given autonomy in various forms.
The bench said, “When one of the couples in a live-in relationship is married, the people living in such relationships are threatened by the respective family members or any moral watchdog. Thus, such live-in couples have the right to claim protection.
However, the High Court also said that if any of the partners in a live-in relationship has a minor child, the court can direct the parents to take care of that child. The division bench has given this decision while answering the reference made in the decision of the single bench in the security case. The single bench judge had given a contradictory decision.
Some questions were raised by the single bench in its decision. The court had asked whether if two people living in a live-in relationship seek protection of their life and liberty by filing a proper petition, then the court needs to provide them protection without examining their marital status and other circumstances of that case? Apart from this, the court had also said that if the answer to the above is negative, then what are the circumstances in which the court can refuse to give them protection? After this decision, the aggrieved couple had approached the double bench of the High Court.
