Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court, while ruling on a security petition filed by a young couple in a live-in relationship, clarified that a relationship between two people consensually living together for a few days cannot be considered as a legitimate relationship by the law.
A division bench of Justice Manoj Bajaj of Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed this petition seeking security on Wednesday, and passed the aforementioned judgment. Citing that the petition was filed without a reason, a fine of Rs. 25,000 was also ordered against the petitioners.
The petition in concern was filed by an 18-year-old girl and a 20-year-old boy who claimed to be in love with each other and expressed the wish to get married too. The petition said that the girl's family is against this marriage and because they do not like the girl, they can falsely implicate her in a criminal case. This was cited as the reason by the couple to be staying together in a hotel, in a supposed live-in relationship, and demanding security from the girl's family.
The couple had been living together in a hotel since November 24, 2021, and were repeatedly receiving threats from the girl's family ever since. The court ruled that petitions like these in which the girl's family opposes the marriage because the involved persons are under-age are quite common and cannot be assigned security to.
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