New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed as “harebrained” a public interest litigation that sought the registration of live-in relationships since there are “no rules and guidelines covering such partnerships”.
A bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, and Justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala, wondered if the petitioner wanted to prevent live-in relationships under the guise of protecting them.
Annoyed that “people come with anything” to the top court, Justice Chandrachud asked: “Registration with whom? The central government? What does the central government have to do with people living in live-in relationships?”
“We’ll start imposing costs on such cases,” he observed, before dismissing it as “just a harebrained petition”.
Advocate Mamta Rani wanted directions to the Centre to formulate rules for the registration of live-in relationships.
She argued that the court has “time and again” given protection to members of live-in relationships “be it women, men or even the children born out of such relationship.”
She said in the absence of such rules there had been a vast increase in crimes by live-in partners, including rape and murder.
The petitioner referred to several cases, including that of Maharashtra girl Shraddha Walkar.
According to the petitioner, a registration of such a relationship would apprise the partners about each other and also the government about their “marital status, criminal history” and other details.
The PIL not only wanted laws but also a central database of the exact number of people in such relationships in the country.
Also read: Mehrauli murder case: Court hears arguments on charges against Aaftab Poonawala