Living in doesn’t help youth: HC

The Rajasthan High Court on Tuesday rejected a 21-year-old woman’s plea that her ‘live-in’ relationship with her boyfriend be legalised.

The Rajasthan High Court on Tuesday rejected a 21-year-old woman’s plea that her ‘live-in’ relationship with her boyfriend be legalised.

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Roopa (name changed), an engineering student, appeared in court as her father had filed a habeas corpus petition seeking her custody which was dismissed by the court.

She has been in this ‘live-in’ relationship with her boyfriend for the last five years.

A division bench of the high court comprising Justice Ashok Parihar and Justice G.S. Saraf refused to give legal sanction to the live-in relationship but allowed the woman to go wherever she wanted —with police protection.

The judges said, “These live-in relationships are not going to help the youngsters and are hardly tenable in Indian society. But what can be done if a major girl does not want to go with any of her relatives. Therefore, we cannot allow her parents to seek custody.”

The woman told the judges that she was a major and no one could tell her where to go. Roopa's boyfriend (38) has already married four times and now stays with her.