The Supreme Court has said that adult couples have the right to live together even though they may not be married, while asserting that a 20-year-old Kerala woman.
The Court said that live-in relationships were even now recognised by the legislature and they had even found a place under the provisions of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 on May 2018.
The observations came while the apex court was hearing a plea filed by Nandakumar against a Kerala High Court order, annulling his marriage with Thushara on the grounds that he had not attained the legal age of marriage. Prohibition of Child Marriage Act states that a girl can’t marry before the age of 18, and a boy before 21. Nandakumar, who had approached the top court, had not turned 21. Further, the High court had also granted the custody of Thushara to her father after noting that she was not Nandakumar’s lawfully wedded wife.
The Supreme Court bench of justices A.K. Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said their marriage could not said to be null and void merely because Nandakumar was less than 21 years of age at the time of marriage. The bench ruled that even if they were not competent to enter into wedlock, they have the right to live together even outside wedlock.
The bench also clarified that a court cannot interfere in the marriage of two consenting adults and cannot annul the marriage in a habeas corpus (a writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court, for securing the person’s release) petition.