[Rohit Kumar v. State of UT Chandigarh] The Punjab & Haryana High Court recently noted the legal void governing live-in relationships and requested a response from the Central government on measures taken to prevent adolescents with impressionable minds from living together.
When the Additional Solicitor General informed the Court of the new proposed amendment to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, raising the marriageable age of women to 21 years, Justice Amol Rattan Singh was hearing a batch of petitions seeking protection of life and liberty for couples in live-in relationships.
Despite this, the Court ruled that no such bill regarding live-in partnerships had been introduced.
As a result, Justice Singh drew attention to an issue that courts were encountering when adolescent live-in partners between the ages of 18 and 21 sought protection of their life and liberty from the courts.
Furthermore, because no statute governed these partnerships, the Court could not deny them protection once the parties reached majority. As a result, the Union Government’s position on the matter was sought.
“What is proposed is to try and ensure that many adolescents with impressionable minds (not fully matured though they are otherwise, technically, of the age of majority in terms of the aforesaid Act) do not start living together and later regret such decisions, causing trauma to their parents and families,” the Court said.
The case has been rescheduled for a hearing on March 21.
The petitioners were represented by attorneys Vinod K Kanwal and Varinder Basa.
Additional Solicitor General Satya Pal Jain, Central government Counsel Saigeeta Srivastava, Additional PP Vasundhara Dalal, Additional Advocate General (AAG) Haryana Neeraj Poswal, and lawyer Naveen Malik defended the defendants.
Case: Rohit Kumar v. State of UT Chandigarh.
