Punjab and Haryana High Court made it very much clear that life of adults in a live-in, even if they are married to other people, have to be safeguarded to ward off threats arising from moral vigilantes or from close relatives.
However, the High Court in a related legal issue, held that granting protection to minors in a live-in relationship, where only one is a minor, or both are minors would be counter to statutory rules.
In such cases, according to the High Court, custody of the minor is required to be retrieved to his/her parents. A division bench of HC, comprising Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Sudeepti Sharma said, ‘If the court perceives that there would be an imminent threat to the life of the minor, it should take recourse to provisions of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act. The minor should be directed to stay in a children’s home or a nari niketan till he/she is an adult’.
High Court passed these orders while hearing a batch of petitions in which the issue was whether court is required to grant protection to two persons living together, without examining their marital status and other circumstances’.
In May 2021, a single bench headed by Justice Anil Kshetarpal, had asked the larger bench to take the decision on whether the court should grant protection to two persons living together, in case they sought protection of their life and liberty, without examining their marital status’.
Comments