Live-In-Relationship

An Individualistic Approach.

- Dr.Shobharam Sharma

The Supreme Court threw its weight behind live in relationships on 22.03.2010, observing that for a man and woman in love, to live together is part of the right to life, and not a “criminal offence”.

“If two people, man and woman, want to live together, who can oppose them? What is the offence they commit here? This happens because of the cultural exchange between people,” a special three-judge bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) K.G. Balakrishnan, Justices Deepak Verma and B. S. Chauhan observed.

The court was hearing a batch of petitions filed by actress Khushboo to quash 22 FIRs filed against her by Tamil activist groups and forums for her alleged comments on pre-marital sex in interviews five years ago.

“If living together is an offence, then the first complaint should be filed against the Supreme Court, because we have permitted living together,” the court said. The bench was referring to a 2006 judgment in which the Supreme Court directed the administration and police throughout the country to protect runaway couples from harassment, and to initiate action against those resorting to violence.

“It is part of right to life to go away with some one you love,” the bench said. The Supreme Court had earlier stayed a Madras High Court order of April 2008, which allowed criminal proceedings against the actress.

Khusboo was alleged to have said there was nothing wrong in “sex before marriage”, provided girls were careful about pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.Her detractors argued that the implied advice to the educated male to not expect virginity from modern girls was “offensive” and a source of “public nuisance”.