The court observed that one of the pre-requites for any live-in-relationship which were held by the Supreme court in the landmark case of D Velusamy v. D. Patchaiammal included that the couple must be unmarried.
The Rajasthan High court recently observed in the case of Rashika Khandal v. the State of Rajasthan that when two people are involved in a live-in-relationship between a married and unmarried person is not permissible. The hearing was about the plea by a couple who sought the protection of life and liberty.
A single court of justice Pankaj Bhandari noted that petitioner No. 2 (Hemant Singh Rathore) is already married and such protection cannot be granted to the couple when one of them is married. “From an examination of the record, it turns out that petitioner no.2 is already married. A relationship between a married person and an unmarried person is not allowed," the court noted.
The petition was rejected by the court which noted that the prerequisites for a live-in relationship as found by the Supreme Court in D Velusamy v. D Patchaiammal is that "the couple must present themselves to society as similar to spouses and must be of legal age to marry or be qualified to enter into a legal marriage, including being celibate".
On June 7, the Rajasthani High Court in another case ordered that police protection be provided to a couple in a Live-in relationship. Judge Satish Kumar Sharma ordered the police to ensure the safety of the petitioners and it’s their duty to protect the rights enshrined in the Constitution.
"It is a well-established legal position, as expounded by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, that personal life and liberty must be protected, except under the procedure established by law as provided for in Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, regardless of the fact that the relationship between two main individuals can be defined as immoral and asocial. Furthermore, under Section 29 of the Rajasthan Police Act, 2007, every police officer has a duty to protect the life and freedom of citizens ", the Court had stated in its ordinance.
On a similar level, the Allahabad High Court had also granted interim protection to a couple in a live relationship noting that no one should interfere with the couple's "peaceful life".