Law Doesn't Recognise Live-In Relationships As Marriage: Kerala Court
NDTV
The high court said, "The law is yet to recognise the live-in relationship as marriage. The law accords recognition only if the marriage is solemnised in accordance with personal law or in accordance with secular law like the Special Marriage Act."
The Kerala High Court has held that the law does not recognise live-in relationships as marriage; it considers as a legal union only weddings solemnised according to personal or secular laws.
Therefore, a couple that lives together by virtue of an agreement cannot claim it to be a marriage nor seek a divorce based on that, the high court said. The ruling by a bench of Justices A Muhamed Mustaque and Sophy Thomas came on an interfaith couple's appeal against a family court order dismissing their plea for divorce on the ground that their marriage was not solemnised under the Special Marriage Act.
The couple, one a Hindu and the other Christian, had been living together since 2006 under a registered agreement and have a 16-year-old child. As they no longer wanted to continue their relationship, they had moved the family court for divorce.
Disposing of their appeal, the high court said, "The law is yet to recognise the live-in relationship as marriage. The law accords recognition only if the marriage is solemnised in accordance with personal law or in accordance with secular law like the Special Marriage Act."
