Religious Tenets Forbid Live-in Relationships for Muslims with Living Spouses: Allahabad HC – News18

The Allahabad High Court just lately criticised an interfaith couple’s plea “virtually” searching for legitimisation of their live-in relationship. The court docket famous that the person, a Muslim, was already married and had a five-year-old little one along with his legally wedded spouse.

“The religious tenets to which the petitioner No.2 (the man) belongs to, does not permit live-in-relationship during the subsisting marriage,” the bench of Justices Attau Rahman Masoodi and Ajai Kumar Srivastava noticed. “A person reposing faith in Islam cannot claim any rights in the nature of a live-in-relationship, particularly when he has a living spouse. The constitutional protection under Article 21 of the Constitution of India would not lend an un-canalized support to such a right, once the usages and customs prohibit such a relationship between the two individuals of the above description.”

The court docket opined that permitting the live-in relationship between the petitioner couple any additional could be untenable contemplating the rights of the Muslim man’s lawful spouse and the welfare of the kid born from their authorized union.

“Thus, the direction for continuation of a live-in-relationship as has been prayed for in the present writ petition, the court would strongly deprecate and deny,” the bench held whereas emphasising that “the constitutional morality and social morality in the matter of marriage institution requires to be balanced failing which social coherence for achieving the object of peace and tranquility in the society would fade and disappear”.

The order was handed in a successive writ petition filed by the couple, who sought to quash a case filed in opposition to the person on April 24, 2024, by the lady’s household. Additionally, they requested a path to safeguard their lives and liberties. The petitioners asserted that that they had willingly engaged in a live-in relationship.

The couple’s first writ petition was taken up by the court docket on April 25 but it surely was consigned to document as their counsel sought permission to withdraw it, with the freedom to file a recent one later.

Through each the petitions, the petitioner-man declared that he married a Muslim girl in 2020, they usually have a daughter as nicely. He talked about that his first spouse, resulting from sickness, has no objection to his live-in relationship along with his present associate. He additionally declared that he had given ‘triple talaq’ to his spouse who was presently residing in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh.

However, the court docket discovered the person’s declare unfaithful because it was revealed that the primary spouse of the petitioner was presently dwelling together with her in-laws in Mumbai.

The court docket noticed that the state of affairs would have been completely different if the petitioners had been single and being main that they had chosen to steer their lives in a method of their very own.

The constitutional morality in that state of affairs could come to the rescue of such a pair and the social morality settled by means of the customs and usages over ages could give option to the constitutional morality and safety below Article 21 of the Constitution of India could step in to guard the trigger, the court docket stated.

It clarified that “customs and usages are an equal source of law recognised by the Constitution as the law made by the competent Legislature” and “once there is a recognition of the customs and usages as a valid law within the framework of our Constitution, even such laws become enforceable in an appropriate case”.

However, it asserted that constitutional safety below Article 21 of the Constitution of India wouldn’t lend uncanalised assist to such a proper, as soon as the usages and customs prohibit such a relationship between the 2 people as within the current case.

The court docket, subsequently, denied any aid as sought by the petitioners. Instead, it ordered the investigating officer to escort the petitioner-woman safely to her parental house and submit a report back to the court docket of her being handed over to her dad and mom.

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