The Allahabad High Court has turned down a plea for police protection filed by a live-in couple, observing that the woman was still legally married and could not claim protection for a relationship that infringes the rights of her spouse.
Justice Vivek Kumar Singh, in an order dated November 7, dismissed the petition filed by Sonam and her partner. They had sought protection from alleged harassment by the woman’s husband and the police, claiming a right to live together peacefully.
The court made it clear that while personal liberty is a fundamental right, it cannot be exercised at the cost of another person’s legally protected interests.
The judge noted that the “freedom of one person ends where the statutory right of another starts”, adding that the woman’s husband has a legal right to her company under the Hindu Marriage Act. Granting protection in such circumstances, the court said, would indirectly amount to endorsing an “illicit relationship”.
The order underlined that no married individual can seek court protection for a live-in partnership without first dissolving their existing marriage in accordance with law.
The bench cautioned that a writ of mandamus cannot be issued to defeat a statutory or penal provision, and the petitioners lacked any enforceable right to demand such relief.
The court said that if the woman had differences with her husband, her remedy lay in seeking separation or divorce through proper legal channels, not in asking the court to legitimise a relationship that violates her spouse’s statutory rights.
