New Delhi: Despite legal legitimacy, live-in relationships are largely perceived to be immoral and it is a fad visible only in urban areas, a Delhi court observed on Tuesday while dubbing it as “infamous western cultural product”.
In remarks that may stoke a controversy, Additional Sessions Judge Surinder S Rathi said, “Traditionally peaking, live-in relationships were alien to our nation till late. Even today it is fad which is visible only in urban areas.”
The judge made the observations while handing down a 7-year jail term and a fine of Rs 7 lakh to a woman ailing from Mizoram for killing her live-in partner, a Nigerian national, in north Delhi over three years back.
“Lately, not only the Hon’ble Supreme Court gave a legal cover to this infamous western cultural product but our Parliament also accorded some degree of protection by including live-in relationship under definition of domestic relationships as defined in section 2 of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act,” he noted.
The ASJ also said that “despite all the developments granting a level of legal legitimacy to live-in relationship, it is largely perceived to be an immoral relation in our society.”
–PTI