Gujarat HC grants protection to couple in live-in relationship

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court has ordered police protection to a couple from different communities, who could not marry yet and began a live-in relationship, after they faced threats from their parents, as per their lawyer.

IANS tried to talk to the couple, but they were not comfortable sharing their names and other details. Both are 19 years old and known to each other since their childhood. They were studying together and fell in love. They wanted to get married but the boy can get married only after the age of 21, as per the law. So they decided to get into a live-in relationship.

Their advocate Harsh Rawal told IANS that the case was heard by a bench of Justice Niral Mehta, who cited two orders by the Supreme Court, in giving relief to them.

As the order the petitioners are facing threats to their lives and liberty from their parents. It noted that there is no dispute that both the petitioners are major and are living together as they have entered into a live-in relation and want to marry once they attain the necessary age, which is not liked by their parents.

As such, having attained the age of majority, the petitioners are within their rights in taking their own decision regarding their lives, the order said, adding that protection is required to be given to the petitioners in order to prevent any untoward incident or danger to their lives.

Rawal said that this case is not that rare, and married couples usually file such cases but this instance will create hopes for those in live-in relationships. Police are intervening with the parents and the matter will be sorted out soon, he added.

The boy and girl both belong to different communities, so their parents were not happy with their relationship. They started putting pressure on them and even threatened them when they came to know about their relationship, telling them to end it and to go back to their homes. So, the couple gave an application to the police for protection. But as they did not get any help from the police, so they moved the high court, he said.

–IANS