Kerala HC allows girl, 19, and boy, 18, to live together

Marking a significant turn in the debate over unmarried couples living together, the Kerala High Court on Friday held that live-in relationships between consenting adults could not be broken by legal intervention.

A division bench of the court made the observation while dismissing a writ of habeas corpus filed by an Alappuzha native who sought a court directive to produce his 19-year-old daughter who is living with an 18-year-old boy.

The bench comprising Justice V Chitambaresh and Justice K P Jyothindranath said it could not close its eyes to the fact that live-in relationships had become “rampant” in the society and such living partners could not be separated by the issue of a writ of habeas corpus provided they are major.

“The Constitutional court is bound to respect the unfettered right of a major to have a live-in relationship even though the same may not be palatable to the orthodox section of the society,” the court said.

It said the woman was free to live with her partner or marry him later when he attained marriageable age. The Muslim couple had submitted before the court that they were in love since their school days.

The father of the woman submitted that his daughter’s live-in partner had not completed 21 years of age and hence, was “a child” as defined under section 2(a) of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.

He contended that there could be no valid marriage between the two and any offspring born to them would be an “illegitimate” child.

“It transpires that the detenue is living with the fourth respondent out of her own volition and she being a major has a right to live wherever she wants to as is permissible or to move as per her choice. The detenue has every right to live with the fourth respondent even outside her wedlock since the live-in relationship has been statutorily recognised by the Legislature itself,” the order said.

In line with SC order

The bench cited a recent Supreme Court judgment that set aside an order of the Kerala High Court to entrust the custody of a major girl with her father, who claimed that his daughter was in the “illegal custody” of the man she was living with.

The high court order was also based on evidence that the man was not 21-years old when he and the woman, 19, solemnised their marriage at a Thiruvananthapuram temple, in April 2017.

The Supreme Court set aside the order and observed that the couple had the right to live together outside of marriage.

“Even if they were not competent to enter into wedlock (which position itself is disputed), they have right to live together even outside of wedlock. It would not be out of place to mention that ‘live-in relationship’ is now recognised by the Legislature itself which has found its place under the provisions of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005,” the apex court said in its April 20 order.