'Hare-brained' idea: Supreme Court dismisses plea for registration of live-in relationships

A petition seeking rules to "register live-in relationships" was dismissed by the Supreme Court, with Chief Justice DY Chandrachud calling it a "harebrained idea". A lawyer had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) calling for guidelines for the mandatory registration of every live-in relationship in the country.

The Supreme Court rejected a petition on Monday asking for the registration of live-in partnerships and questioned what the central government would do in this situation, calling the petition's goal a "hare-brained" idea.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, while hearing the plea asked the counsel for petitioner, lawyer Mamta Rani if she wanted to foster the security of these people or wanted them not to get into live-in relationships.

"People come to the court with just about anything," said CJI DY Chandrachud, rejecting the plea, adding that they will now start charging for such instances if necessary.

“You want every live in relationship to be registered? Are you trying to foster care or security of these people or to prevent them? These are all hare-brained ideas which you want the court to execute. Dismissed," CJI said.

"What kind of crazy notion is this?" CJI Chandrachud remarked. The petitioner wants the relationship documented to improve their social security, the attorney said.

With reference to recent cases like the murder of Shraddha Walkar by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala, Rani's petition asked the Centre to issue guidelines for the registration of live-in relationships due to an increase in crimes like rape and murder that are allegedly committed by live-in partners.

Moreover, rules and regulations for registering such connections were asked after in the plea. According to the plea, live-in partners and the government would both have access to precise information about each other's marital status, criminal records, and other pertinent facts if live-in partnerships were registered.

(With PTI inputs)