‘Law must adapt itself to serve those who choose this form’
New Delhi: Widening the scope of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the provision, which deals with cruelty by a husband or his relatives, would also apply to partners in live-in relationships if an intention to marry is proven.
The top court said “live-in relationships” are today, more or less, a reality – primarily in urban areas, where an increasingly large section of the population resides – and the law must adapt itself to serve those who choose this form.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and N Kotiswar Singh said a man in a live-in relationship can be prosecuted for subjecting a woman to cruelty if the relationship is “in the nature of marriage”.
Section 498A refers to a woman’s husband or his relatives subjecting her to cruelty.
“Section 498A is held to be applicable to ‘live-in relationships’ that qualify as ‘relationships in the nature of marriage’ with the intent to marry being established as an intrinsic part thereof;
“The ‘live-in relationships’ protected by Section 498A, it is stated for ample clarity, are those that are between two consenting adult individuals. The proposition of law as laid down shall be limited to Section 498A IPC only, and this extended interpretation shall not affect any other provision,” the bench said.
The top court said the safeguards against arrest and other factors shall be strictly applied and no person in a relationship “in the nature of marriage” having been accused of committing cruelty against a woman, being either the live-in partner “in the nature of marriage” or his relative, shall be arrested without preliminary inquiries.
The apex court said that if a woman is in a domestic setup even prior to marriage, the protection given to married woman should be given to them also.
“Cruelty, any which way, does not check at the door, whether the house it enters is that of a married woman or not. Once it enters, its propensity to destroy is aggravated.
“It is held, therefore, that a woman in a ‘relationship in the nature of marriage’ shall be protected under Section 498A, giving the word ‘husband’ a purposive interpretation, keeping in view the reformative, corrective and socially beneficial intent of the Section,” the bench said.
The top court said that not a single person goes into a relationship knowing or anticipating that cruelty may be meted out to them.
“When a couple sets out on their journey, it is always, one presumes, with the best of intentions and to bring joyfulness of all forms. With the passage of time, however, some relationships may go down this troublesome path. The law must provide for the same.
“This distinction between ‘married’ and ‘live-in relationship in the nature of marriage’, in as much as it relates to the protection envisaged by Section 498A, has no rational nexus with the object of preventing domestic violence and is as such offensive to Article 14 of the Constitution of India,” the bench said.
Observing that the right to choose one’s partner is an intrinsic part of individual autonomy, the bench said choosing to live in a ‘relationship in the nature of marriage’, attracts at least two kinds of privacy – spatial privacy and associational privacy.
The top court said the law is a living organism, and its life comes more so from experience, and not merely logic.
“Any experience that is undergone by humans particularly has its own way of changing them. The law that we use today is undoubtedly a human endeavour, and so experiences change it too.
“In the earlier days, marriage was perceived as the only method by which two individuals could live together for a life time, and doing so without that was considered taboo. Marriage was considered to be sacrosanct; which undoubtedly is a changing phenomenon. Living together, prior to marriage, is not unheard of or unacceptable anymore,” the bench said.
