INTRODUCTION TO LIVE IN RELATIONSHIP
Live in relationships ; a concept which is very popular in today's society in all over the world , it is a kind of arrangement between the couples to live together under the same roof without having officially married . at first in India it is not socially as well as legally accepted but through judicial pronouncements its nature now came at the point where High court of Punjab & Haryana gives social acceptance to couples of live in relationship .
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF LIVE -IN RELATIONSHIPS
psychological effect of live-in relationship on couples ; it is like a marriage without liabilities , sometimes people wanted to know each other better and experience the life with each other so that they doesn't have to regret later on . it is just like a compatibility test where couples live like a husband and wife without having any matrimonial ceremony .
It has another aspect as well where ,On the one hand it gives opportunity to couples to know there partner better and on the other hand it creates chaos among the younger generation where for some it becomes easy to be in physical relationship with there partners which sometimes led into serious offences .
although in the recent judgment of Punjab and Haryana high court in the case of Pardeep Singh and Anr v. State of Haryana , (2021) social acceptance and protection to the couple was pronounced, but still it is difficult to accept it specially by the older generation as in there view it is ethically wrong
Irrespective of these cultural differences few things remains the same in the eyes of society where pre-marriage sex, sex without marriage , prostitution , live in relationships , widow remarriage etc. are supposed to be taboo and whosoever practices any of them are considered to be a person with no morals and doing something wrong in the eyes of society .
JUDICIAL PRONOUNCEMENTS
The social and legal status of live -in relationships gradually evolved with the help of judicial pronouncements from time to time in the case of Badri Prasad vs. Dy. Director of Consolidation, 1978 , it was the first time where supreme court of IOndia acknowledge live in relationship as a valid marriage where the couple was living under the same roof as husband and wife from last 50 years . justice kishna iyer held that a couple living as husband and wife from a longer period and everyone in there surroundings considers them as a married couple then the relationship will be considered as a valid one .
Now the question arises in the mind of readers whether the couple of live in relationship have same or equal rights as the married couple in India , the answer would be NO as marriage is a concept which comes under the personal law reason being India's diversity of culture and religious beliefs. Hindu law provides certain rights and duties of a married couple , as for live in partners they does't have those rights and obligations . there co-habitation will last as per there wish , one of them can leave without giving any formal notice to the other one .
Supreme court of India in various judgments covered others areas of live in relationship mentioned below :
