The Supreme Court has issued a notice on a plea regarding live-in relationship between a married man and a divorced woman filed by Manpreet Kaur and sought the Centre’s reply within 4 weeks.
The petition is filed against the final judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court where the court dismissed their petition seeking directions to officials to protect their life and liberty from the respondents (petitioner’s wife and other family members) as they are against the live-in relationship.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court in its order had termed the live-in relationship between a married man and a divorced woman unholy. It has been stated in the petition that in case any incident happens in such a relationship, it will occur only due to the reason that there is no fixed law for this, and because of this the people living in such relations have to face problems.
According to the petitioner, the decisions given by different High Courts for such matters vary from court to court. Therefore, there is a need to make a fixed law for this.
Advocate Shashwat Parihar and advocate Shashwat Anand filed the petition in the Supreme Court and demanded a law in such cases keeping the difficulty faced by people in such relations in mind. In this case Manpreet Kaur and Sandeep are in a live-in relationship where Manpreet Kaur is divorced on one hand, and Sandeep is married.
The petition states that the single-judge bench of Punjab and Haryana High Court had dismissed the writ petition with costs of Rs 25,000 without considering the facts of the case and as such, is liable to be set aside. The bench while dismissing the petition failed to appreciate the fact that it is not a matter of dispute that Petitioner No. 2 (Sandeep) did not get the divorce from the respondent 4 (wife) yet but there was only limited prayer regarding the protection of life and liberty of the appellants and it has been held by the Apex Court in various judgments that being the protectors of civil liberties of the citizens, the Supreme Court and the High Court have not only the power and jurisdiction but also an obligation to protect the fundamental rights, guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution zealously and vigilantly.
The main prayer of the petitioners is mentioned below:-
1. Special Leave to Appeal to the petitioner against the final judgment and order dated September 17, 2021 passed by the Hon’ble High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh.
2. Pass an order to Expunge the word “unholy alliance” in the impugned order.
The petition further states that the Apex Court has issued directions that if a major boy and a major girl remain in live-in relationship then no offence is made out and pleased to direct the Police and Administration throughout the country to protect the life and liberty of such couples.
In the present case, the petitioners are being harassed unnecessarily though they have not committed any offence. That Article 21 of Constitution of India envisages that no person shall be deprived of his right to freedom and personal liberty except in accordance with produce establish by law. The Article gives complete immunity against the exercise the despotic powers of executive.