Punjab And Haryana High Court Refused Police Protection, Imposed Cost; Married Persons’ Entry Into Live-In Relationship ‘Illicit’

The Punjab And Haryana High Court in the case observed and has imposed a fine for an amount of Rs. 2,500 on already married individuals who enters into a live-in relationship who had approached the court seeking police protection. The bench headed by Justice Alok Jain in the case observed and has called it the classic case of an illicit relationship, wherein reiterating that married individuals cannot enter live-in relationships with others during the subsistence of the marriage of them.
The court observed that one’s the choice to live outside wedlock does not mean that married persons are free to live in live-in-relationship with others during subsistence of marriage, as it would amount to transgressing the valid legal framework.
Therefore, the filing of the said writ plea appears to be a device being adopted to have a seal and signature of this Court on the illegal act of the petitioners wherein violating the norms of pious institution of marriage. The Andhra Pradesh High Court in the case observed and has recently passed an order on almost identical lines.
In the present case, the plea was moved by the couple seeking police protection from their one of their spouses. Thus, the couple also had the children from their respective spouses. The bench of Justice Jain in the case observed and has remarked that the threat perception narrated in the petition seemed ‘vague and evasive’ and it appeared as though the wife of the man caught him in a ‘promiscuous relationship’ which in the case could not be considered a threat. The court in the case observed that if there is any real grievance of the couple against the private respondents, who were allegedly interfering in their live-in relationship or if there was a threat to their life, they in the matter being at the liberty to lodge an FIR under Section 154 of Code of Criminal Procedure, CrPC with the police or move an application under Section 156 (3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, CrPC before the competent Court or file a complaint case under Section 200 of Cr.P.C. Accordingly, the court dismissed the plea with the cost for a amount of Rs. 2,500. The counsel, Raminder Singh Dhaliwal appeared for the petitioners;
The counsel, P.S Grewal, DAG, Punjab.