- The Allahabad High Court says Constitution protects interfaith live-in couples
- The court says it views interfaith couples as individuals living together by choice, not by religion.
- Right to live with a partner of choice is intrinsic to personal liberty under Article 21, the court says
The court does not see an interfaith couple as Hindu and Muslim but as two grown-up individuals living together happily, the Allahabad High Court has said, emphasising that the Constitution protects an interfaith couple in a live-in relationship.
The bench of Justice Vivek Kumar Singh was hearing a petition by an interfaith couple in a live-in relationship. The couple had said they fear for their safety and that the police had not responded to their concerns, prompting them to approach the court with a writ petition.
The court said in its order, dated March 18, that the government's counsel said no FIR had been registered in connection with the interfaith couple living together.
Disposing of the petition, the judge said, "This Court does not see the petitioners herein of different religion as Hindu and Muslim, rather as two grown-up individuals who out of their own free will and choice are living together peacefully and happily for a considerable time."
"Right to live with a person of his/her choice, irrespective of religion professed by them, is intrinsic to right to life and personal liberty. Interference in a personal relationship would constitute a serious encroachment into the right to freedom of choice of the two individuals. This Court fails to understand that if the law permits two persons even of the same sex to live together peacefully then neither any individual nor a family nor even State can have objection to heterosexual relationship of two major individuals who out of their own free will are living together. Decision of an individual who is of the age of majority to live with an individual of his/her choice is strictly a right of an individual and when this right is infringed, it would constitute breach of his/her fundamental right to life and personal liberty as it includes right to freedom of choice, to choose a partner and right to live with dignity as enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of India," the court said in its order.
The court added that it is the duty of the State to protect the life and liberty of every citizen. "Right to human life is to be treated on much higher pedestal, regardless of a citizen's religious belief. The mere fact that the petitioners are living in an interfaith relationship would not deprive them of their fundamental right as envisaged in Constitution of India, being citizens of India," the order said.
The Allahabad High Court has made headlines for two different stands it took on the subject of married people in live-in relationships.
In one of the rulings, the single-judge bench of Justice Vivek Kumar Singh said a married person cannot legally enter a live-in relationship with a third person without getting a divorce from his/her spouse. The court said the "freedom of one person ceases where the statutory right of another person starts". It said a spouse has the right to enjoy the company of his/her partner, and he/she cannot be deprived of it in the name of the partner's personal liberty. The court noted that it cannot direct authorities to protect a live-in couple in such cases.
And in another case, a division bench of Justice JJ Munir and Justice Tarun Saxena observed that a married man living in a consensual live-in relationship with an adult woman does not amount to a criminal offence under the law. The court noted that "social opinions and morality will not guide" it.
