Live in Essay

22 August 2008 In January 2008, the Supreme Court reasonedated long-term extend-in races as joins. A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat with P Satasivan declared that children born out of such a human kindred testament no longer be called illegitimate. Law inclines in the interest of genuineness and thumbs down whoreson or fruit of adultery, the judgeship added.The prime solicit judgment was followed by similar suggestions from the National Commission for Women (NCW). In June this year, in response to recommendations make by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the NCW sought a change in the definition of wife as described in Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which deals with maintenance. The NCW recommended that women in digest-in human relationships should be entitled to maintenance if the man deserts her.Emphasising the need for broadening the definition of wife in the CrPC section, NCW officials said there had been chances where the man led the charr to believe that he was un unify or was divorced or leave and went ahead with the formalities required by marriage righteousnesss or the system governing him. As a way of countering this, NCW chairperson Girija Vyas suggested that even if a marriage was not registered, a womans claim would comport if she provided enough proof of a long-term relationship.This underscored the Supreme Courts stand that a man and woman, having weard unneurotic for long, would be presumed to feature been espouse, unless it was rebutted by convincing evidence. Equal rights The recent ruling is only the latest in a series of recommendations by various bodies seeking equal rights for the married woman and live-in effeminate hittner. A recommendation by the Justice Malinath delegation to the Law Commission of India (2003) stated that if a woman has been in a live-in relationship for a reasonable time, she should enjoy the legal rights of a wife.The shelter of Women fro m Domestic Violence Act (2005) provides protection to women at the hands of their hubbys as well as live-in helpers, and his relatives. When the law came into force in October 2006, it did not sign surrounded by the woman who is married and the woman who is in a live-in relationship. The SC ruling in itself has its precedent in a 1927 judgment do by the Privy Council, the Supreme Courts predecessor in pre-independent India. In A Dinohamy v.WL Blahamy, the Council laid down a general article of faith Where a man and a woman are proved to have lived together as a man and wife, the law will presume, unless the untoward be clearly proved, that they were living together in consequence of a valid marriage and not in a state of concubinage. The Council made signifi preservet additions to the 1927 ruling in 1929 in Mohabhat Ali Vs Mohammad Ibrahim Khan. It said The law presumes in favour of marriage and against concubinage when a man and woman have cohabited incessantly for a numbe r of long time. For a live-in couple to be considered validly married, the solicit wanted evidence of cohabitation for a number of years, without specifying the minimum number of years. In Gokal Chand and Pravin Kumari (1952), the Supreme Court reiterated the 1929 principle. However, it added that though the presumption for a valid marriage between a live-in couple could be drawn from their long cohabitation, it wasnt enough to earn them legitimacy if the evidence of their living together was rebuttable.In this judgment, the apex court refused to recognise a live-in relationship, though the couple had lived together for some years before the pregnant woman decided to live alone with her child born out of a live-in relationship with the man. The rebuttal of a presumption in favour of a valid marriage, in this case, came from the child, who said she did not remember her father ever visiting her or her mother.In Badri Prasad (1978), the Supreme Court recognised a live-in relationshi p as a valid marriage, accusing the authorities of questioning a relationship 50 years after the couple had begun living together, and were treated as a married couple even by their relatives. The view from the courts A Madhya Pradesh High Court judgment in 1985 dealt with the case of Loli, who had lived for several years with Radhika Singh. Together they had five daughters and a son. The trial court dismissed the case made by Singhs sister-in-law that Loli should not have property rights as she was just a mistress.The sister-in-law had sought her rights over the property, and contended that Loli had started living with Singh even when her starting line husband was alive, and therefore, there could not be a presumption of valid marriage. entirely the appellate court set aside the trial courts order, a stand the Madhya Pradesh High Court also concur with. This brings us to Payal Sharma Vs Superintendent, Nari Niketan, and others, in which a court stated in 2001 that a live-in rela tionship was not illegal.Sharma had moved the Allahabad High Court to be odd to do her own bidding after being forced to live in a Nari Niketan at Agra, following her arrest, along with Ramendra Singh, with whom she had a live-in relationship. The Agra practice of law arrested her and Singh on the basis of an FIR lodged by her father, accusing Singh, an already married man, of kidnapping Sharma. A resident of Kannauj district in Uttar Pradesh, Sharma produced documentary evidence, including her gritty school certificate, to prove that she was 21 years old.On the basis of this evidence, the court directed the authorities to set her free. Justice M Katju and Justice RB Mishra stated, Petitioner Smt. Payal Sharma appeared before us and stated that she is above 21 years of age, which is borne out from the high school certificate which shows that her date of birth is 10. 7. 1980. so she is a major and has the right to go anywhere and live with anyone. In our opinion, a man and a woma n, even without getting married, can live together if they wish to.This may be regarded as immoral by society, but is not illegal. There is a difference between law and morality. Thus, a uniform view appears to emerge from the courts, when one looks at the register of cases on the question of live-in relationships. It appears that, by and large, legal sanction for live-in relationships is based on the assumption that they are not between equals, and therefore women must be protected by the courts from the patriarchal power that defines marriage, which covers these relationships too. Shades of greyBut such protective sanction raises other questions, notably almost the groundwork of marriage itself, for which there are no easy answers. Supposing a live-in relationship is between a man who is already married with children, and a star woman? In Payal Sharma, Ramendra Singh was a married man with children. Which womans interest should the courts and law protect, and in doing so, can the apparent equality between married and unmarried couples be maintained? Live-in relationships also raise questions about legal stance towards bigamy.In spirit and essence, the Allahabad High Court perspicacity contradicts the law against bigamy for Hindus, both for men and women, which make it mandatory for a husband or wife to get a divorce before they can marry again. When bigamy is illegal except for Muslims in what sense can a live-in relationship be equal to a marriage, if either the man or the woman is already married? And how is it that a division bench of a High Court is able to pronounce a judgement that openly violates the social, legal and filial implications that bind the husband in a Hindu marriage, which includes living with the wife and children under the same roof?Theres also the question of marriage- resembling protection for a woman who enters a relationship with someone she isnt married to, by choice or circumstance. Does a female partner need the protectio n of legal standing tantamount(predicate) to that of a wife, in a non-married relationship she entered into by choice or circumstance? To marry, or not to marry? Live-in relationships among urban, educated, upper-middle class young hoi polloi began as a declaration of independence, as a way of retentivity away from the shackles of governing bodyalised marriages.In fact, its a willful rejection of the institution of marriage, of the stereotypes it engenders, and of the restrictions and inequalities it has come to stand for. But, legal sanction granted to a live-in relationship may put it back in the trap that live-in partners sought to disconcert in the first place. This legal sanction implies that live-in relationships are bound by the same rules of fidelity, commitment and economic stability that marriage is structured in. fond geographer Soma Das says that people who opt for live-in relationships do so because they do not believe in marriage. If live-in relationships are tre ated on par with marriage, many young men and women may not really handle to get into such open relationships. At the other end, ensuring maintenance and swelled legal sanction to live-in relationships will not make the position of the female partner equal to that of the wife because social acceptance in Indian society will take a very long time.It lull does not have a mindset that accepts the estranged female partner of a live-in relationship. Psychologist Shenaz B Ilavia believes that live-in relationships are still confined to a marginal segment of society which she calls the elite, upper middle class. Theoretically, it may sound like a better proposition than marriage, but very few people actually opt for it. A live-in relationship is not a alleviation for marriage, she says.