recent crimes against live in couples

The restrictive nature of legal provisions for live-in couples allows social conservatism to find its way back to institutions of justice

Shraddha Walkar Murder case

 In 2022, investigations began into the disappearance of a 26-year-old woman, Shraddha Walkar. Her murder, allegedly committed by by her live-in partner, ignited a media trial. 

Arrange marriage 

Recent surveys show that arranged marriages are the norm in India. The choices of the youth are shaped by societal pressures 

lack of legal protection available to interfaith couples and those in live-in relationships. Shraddha’s case reinforced this sensibility behind relationships.

India’s democracy celebrates pluralism of social, religious, and political practices institutionally and in the everyday lives of citizens. 

The mechanisms of justice and law arguably secure the rights of each individual enshrined in the Constitution. 

This article connects the recent crimes against unconventional couples and the legal protection possible for them.

Seeking justice

The Domestic Violence Act, 2005, 

This law was extended to live-in relationships.presons. 

In 2006, the Supreme Court

 in a decision on the complaint of a woman, Lata Singh, against her family’s threats to her husband, upheld inter-caste marriages.

 In following judgments, the Supreme Court extended the same protection to live-in relationships, stating, “Live-in or marriage-like relationship is neither a crime nor a sin though socially unacceptable in this country”. 

The law offers protection against 

• domestic violence to women 
• property rights to children of such couples. 
• However, the complaints mostly seek protection against women’s parents.

In Chawali v. State of U.P.(2015), the Allahabad High Court

 building on the conservatism towards marriage,this will  warned against the emotional and psychological consequences of such alliances: 

• “as a result of ‘live-in relationship’, a woman faces deportation... 
• or involvement in the commission of crimes. 

they do not offer the rights and social acceptance possible with marriages.

In Chawali, the and Court decision 

said, “Fundamental rights securing the individual rights of the citizens should be looked into from an Indian perspective.” 

Judgments view live-in relationships as a western concept. They separate western individual rights and protection from the Indian traditional and customary practices that place family as the basis of socialisation.

Negotiating law

In 2024, for instance, the Madhya Pradesh High Court dismissed an interfaith couple’s pleas seeking police protection against the woman’s family and registration of their marriage, observing that the union of a Muslim man with a “fire-worshipper” woman is not a valid wedding as per Muslim law. 

Further, the couple could not prove their financial dependence or long-term residence, which were critical to proving their relationship akin to marriage. 

The rules defining the criteria for establishing live-in relations 

do not account for the impossibility of opening a bank account or cohabiting in India’s rental market without proof of marriage or family ties.

The restrictive nature of such provisions allows social conservatism to find its way back to the secular institutions of justice in modern India.

 A 2023 High Court order held, “It reserves many rights and privileges to married persons to preserve and encourage the institution of marriage. 

The Supreme Court is simply accepting a social reality, and it has no intention to unravel the fabric of Indian family life”.

Way forward

India’s religious and legal pluralism offers possibilities for rethinking interconnections between law and social practices. There are many efforts by non-state actors to support individuals expressing their autonomy.

 The success of these initiatives should lead to changes in attitudes towards socialisation and create supportive community networks, while promoting deliberations over the role of law as a corrective check to prevalent discrimination.

Source the hindu