Live in relationship is not a crime, rules Kerala High Court

The girl has every right to live with the youth without getting married since the Legislature itself has statutorily recognised the live-in relationship.

Kerala's High Court has ruled that live in relationship of a 19-year-old girl and 18-year-old boy is not illegal. The court also said that it cannot "shut its eyes to live-in relationships".

The court said that the girl is free to live with the boy or marry him later when he attains the marriageable age (21). The decision came a month after the Supreme Court had said that the adults have a right to be in a live-in relationship, even if they have not attained the legal age for marriage.

A bench, comprising Justice V Chitambaresh and Justice K P Jyothindranath, dismissed a petition filed by the girl’s father and said that partners living together cannot be separated by with a writ of a habeas corpus, provided the couple are not minors.

The court also said that the girl had attained puberty and could marry both under Section 251 of Mahomedan Law as well as the provisions of the Act. It transpires that the girl is living with the youth 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 girl has every right to live with the youth without getting married since the Legislature itself has statutorily recognised the live-in relationship.

Live in relationship is not a crime, rules Kerala High Court