‘Due to cultural influence’: Chhattisgarh HC rejects plea for child’s custody

The two-judge bench rejected the man’s contention that he was the child’s natural guardian, underlining that the interfaith marriage between the two was void

RAIPUR: The Chhattisgarh high court has dismissed a 43-year-old man’s plea to grant him custody of a child born from his live-in relationship with a woman who walked out of the relationship in August last year.

(Chhattisgarh high court)

The two-judge bench rejected the man’s contention that he was the child’s natural guardian, underlining that the interfaith marriage between the two was void because he had a living spouse when the couple got married under the Special Marriages Act 1954.

The 1954 law stipulates that a marriage between any two persons may be solemnised under this Act “if neither party has a spouse living”. But the appellant’s first wife was alive, the bench of justices Goutam Bhaduri and Sanjay S Agrawal said in their April 30 verdict. A copy of the order was, however, made available this week.

The Dantewada man told the high court that he was in a live-in relationship for three years with the woman, before getting married in 2021. A child was born on August 31, 2021 and two years later, the woman returned to her parent’s house with her child.

“The close inspection of society shows that the institution of marriage no longer controls the people as it did in the past due to cultural influence of the Western countries and this significant shifts and apathy towards matrimonial duties has probably given rise to the concept of live-in relationship”, the bench said, underlining that it was ”crucial to understand and protect the women in such relationship, as they are most often the complainant and victim of violence”.

“...we are conscious of the fact that the live-in relationship which is being followed in certain sect of the society still continues with a stigma in the Indian culture. Live-in relationship is an imported philosophy contrary to the general expectations of Indian tenets. No trick would be available to hide the spot. In Indian tradition each of citizen possesses a sense of self that is unique and unlikely to be confused,” the high court observed