A recent ruling by the Kerala High Court, a state court in India, has determined that women in live-in relationships are not protected under an anti-cruelty law specified in the Indian Penal Code. The order, issued by a single-judge bench, clarified the application of Section 498A; a section which prohibits a woman’s husband or his relatives from subjecting her to cruelty.
This judgement, given by Justice Sophy Thomas, points out that this provision cannot be invoked by women in live-in relationships on the grounds of a marriage agreement without an actual solemnisation of marriage. In other words, for this provision to apply, it is fundamental that the woman must be married and be at the receiving end of cruelty from her spouse or his male relative.
What can be regarded as cruelty within the context of this law has been subject to various subjective interpretations through case laws. In fact, the court made use of precedent set in the case of Reema Aggarwal vs. Anupam and others in 2004. Here, the term “husband” was defined as a man in a legally valid marital relationship with a woman.
The Kerala court stated that if any religious or customary marriage, that carries a semblance of a legally valid marriage, exists between the man and the woman involved in the live-in relationship, then the woman can claim protection under Section 498A.
Interestingly, the Protection of Women against Domestic Violence Act, 2005 serves as the only legislation in India that recognizes live-in relationships. This Act’s intent to extend rights and protection irrespective of marital status to women facing cruelty within their household was established in the case of Indra Sarma v V. K. V. Sarma.
The Kerala High Court’s ruling has certainly stirred a dialogue on the legal protections offered to women in non-traditional living arrangements in India’s legal system.