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India is a place where marriage is seen as a sacramental institution and hence a man and women if want to live together, have to get themselves tied in the institution of marriage. However, in the 21st century a new concept which is known as “live in relationship” has emerged. Live in Relationship is a concept under which a man and women live together without getting married. This concept in India is fairly new but is spreading rapidly. Various Supreme Court judgments have recognized the concept of live in relationship and have legalized it. It is to be noted that nowhere in the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 has recognized live in relationship and hence some people consider it as an illegitimate relationship. Marriage is a social union or a legal contract between people that creates kinship. The concept of live-in relationship it isn’t new to the society but the problem with the people is they are hesitating to reveal or to speak frankly about their status or live-in relationship to the society. But talking about the western culture this concept is not new for them. Live in relationship whether legal or illegal is very subjective especially in India where traditions are given utmost importance and violating them is considered as a sin.

We have reviewed various Journals, books and other Study material as part of the Literature Review. We had gone through several literatures and tried to understand the recent changes or development in the media.

Concept of Marriage in Indian Society:-

In India traditionally marriage is a sacramental institution and the very essence of marriage is based on the principles of tolerance and responsibilities.

People from generations have been following these principles and have considered it their duty to follow these principles when they get married.

But as Indian society moved forward and become much more modern people started looking for an alternative to marriage as marriage according to the new generation youth is a burden and thus wanted something under which they can live like a married couple without any commitments, under these circumstances the concept of the live-in relationship seemed to be the savior.

However, the concept of the live-in relationship had various side effects such as; whether these relationships are legal or whether pre-marital sex should be legalized in India, especially when marriage was an institute to legalise the sexual relationships.

The most important issue that arose was that what would happen to children born out of these relationships. One thing to be noted is that the practice of live-in relationships is widely practiced in urban India especially in metropolitan cities. The society is divided as to whether live in a relationship should be practiced or not.

On one hand, there are people who think that marriage is a sacrament and thus is necessary for legalizing sexual relationship between a man and women, they allege that live in relationship destroy the social fabric of the society and thus it would create confusion and hence should not be recognized.

The other side favours this concept and advocates that we live in 21stCentury and hence youngsters should be given the freedom to choose their partners and thus they should decide whether they are compatible enough to enter into a sacred institution like marriage.

Live in Relationship and its Legality:-

Live-in Relationship is a relationship which does not create any rights and responsibilities that a perfectly valid marriage creates. Neither the man is bound to maintain the women nor do the women have any kind of responsibility towards the man. It can be defined as a walk-in and walk-out relationship. Both the individuals with each other’s consent live together not because they are married but because they want to live together. The big question arises is this kind of relationship recognized. The answer is yes although live-in relationship is not recognized in any statute or any other government legislation. But the Supreme Court of India through various judgments has given live in relationship a legal backing.

Live-in relation i.e. cohabitation is an arrangement whereby two people decide to live together on a long-term or permanent basis in an emotionally and/or sexually intimate relationship. The term is most frequently applied to couples who are not married. People may live together for a number of reasons. These may include wanting to test the compatibility or to establish financial security before marrying. It may also be because they are unable to legally marry, for instance, if they are of the same sex, some interracial or inter-religious marriages are not legal or permitted. Other reasons include living with someone before marriage in an effort to avoid divorce, a way for polygamists or polyamorists to avoid breaking the law, a way to avoid the higher income taxes paid by some two-income married couples (in the United States), negative effects on pension payments (among older people), philosophical opposition to the institution of marriage and seeing little difference between the commitment to live together and the commitment to marriage. Some individuals may also choose cohabitation because they see their relationships as being private and personal matters, and not to be controlled by political, religious or patriarchal institutions

For the first time, the question of whether live-in relationship is a legal relationship came to the Supreme Court in the case of Badri Prasad v. Dy. Director of Consolidation.

In the present case the parties were living in a live in relationship for almost 50 years and the question before the court was whether their relationship be granted the same status which is granted to a married couple and the apex court’s decision was in favour of the couple and the apex court granted legal status to their 50 year relationship.

In the case of Indra Sarma v. VKV Sarma the Supreme Court held that if at any point any male who is not married lives with a women who is also not married and they also shared the same house then that will come under section 2(f) of Domestic Violence Act and if at any point of time domestic violence occurs then the aggrieved person can seek relief under the chapter IV of the Domestic Violence Act.

Before independence in A.Dinohamy v.WL Blahamy, the Privy Council laid down a broad rule postulating that, “Where a man and a woman are proved to have lived together as a man and wife, the law will presume, unless the contrary be clearly proved, that they were living together in consequence of a valid marriage and not in a state of concubinage.” The Allahabad High Court, in Payal Sharma v. Superintendent, Nari Niketan, and others, stated that a live-in-relationship is not illegal. Justice M Katju and Justice R.B. Mishra stated, “In our opinion, a man and a woman, even without getting married, can live together if they wish to. This may be regarded as immoral by society, but is not illegal. There is a difference between law and morality.” In Patel and others case, the Supreme Court observed that live- in-relationship between two adults without a formal marriage cannot be construed as an offence. It also stated that there is no such statute which postulates that live-in relationships are illegal. The same proposition was upheld in the case of Tulsa v. Durghatiya, where the long term live-in-relationship was recognized as equivalent to marriage. In Kushboo vs Kanniammal the opinion of the Supreme Court has further provided a positive impetus to live-in- relationships. The case of the prosecution was that the comment of the actress Khushboo allegedly endorsing pre-marital sex will adversely affect the moral fabric of society. A three judge bench comprising of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice Deepak Verma and Justice B.S. Chauhan observed, “When two adult people want to live together what is the offence. Does it amount to an offence? Living together is not an offence. It cannot be an offence”

Adding feather to the cap, the Supreme Court of India in D.Velusamy v D.Patchaiammal differentiated between “live-in relationship” and “relationship in the nature of marriage” and laid conditions for women seeking maintenance in live-in-relationship. In the judgment Justices Markandey Katju and T S Thakur opined that in order to get maintenance, a woman, even if not married, has to fulfill the following four requirements:.

(1)The couple must hold themselves out to society as being akin to spouses

(2)They must be of legal age to marry

(3)They must be otherwise qualified to enter into a legal marriage including being unmarried

(4)They must have voluntarily cohabitated and held themselves out to the world as being akin to spouses for a significant period of time.

The court further stated that a “relationship in the nature of marriage” under the Domestic Violence Act 2005 must also fulfill the above requirements, and in additions the parties must have lived together in a “shared household” as defined in Section 2(S) of the Act. . Merely spending weekends together or a one night stand would not make it domestic relationship. Justice Katju further elaborated, “In our opinion not all live-in relationships will amount to a relationship in the nature of marriage to get the benefit of the Act of 2005.

Similarly the other major concern was deciding the legitimacy of the children born out of live-in relationship, once again the Supreme Court highlighted the plight of children born out of live-in-relationship in the case of Uday Kumar v Ayesha & others the bench of Justices B S Chauhan and Justice Chelameswar stated that children born out of prolonged live-in relationships could not be termed illegitimate. This judgment has overshadowed all the earlier understanding regarding the legitimacy of the children born out of live-in relationships.

Hence, though more or less uniformity has been exuded in a positive direction by the court when it comes to live-in-relationship. In Tulsi & Ors v. Durghatiya & Ors, the SC watched that a man and a lady who is involved in a live-in relationship for a longer time would be consider as married couple and their child would be legitimate.

The Indian view point in Khushboo v .Knniamaland anr., the SC opined that a man and woman living together with-it marriage cannot be constructed as an offence. The SC said that there was no law disallowing live-in or premarital sex. Living together may be a right to live the SC said, clearly alluding to Article 21 of the Structure of India which ensures right to life and individual liberty as a essential right.

Moral and Social Issues of Live in Relationships:-

In India marriage as above mentioned is a sacrament however it is very difficult to trace the origin of marriage; under Hindu rites and traditional marriage is a concept that started as soon as the man came into being.

The main purpose of marriage was to give legitimacy to the sexual relationship between man and women and second the child born out of that marriage will be a legitimate child.

Under Indian Society the concept of marriage is so deeply engrossed that if any two people of opposite sex either engage in sexual relationship without getting married it is considered as a taboo and hence those couple have to face the crunch of the society, marriages in India is not only the tie up of men and women but also a tie up of the families and therefore a great degree of caution is taken care when two people are getting married, but when two individual of opposite sex live together in live in relationship the society not only doubt their character but also start questioning their family upbringing and hence parents sometimes are also not supported for live in relationship.

However, things are changing in metropolitan cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai people are accepting live-in relationship as a legitimate form of relationship, but in rural India, the situation is not the same. People in rural India do not have a positive outlook towards live in a relationship.

In contrast in western societies’ marriages are seen as an individual choice rather than a family decision and hence individual liberty is more than in Indian society.

Many people in India believe that live in relationships are just a way to fulfill the sexual desires and hence it is the same as prostitution, however this kind of mindset needs social conditioning and people need to understand that people do not go for live in relationship just because they want to fulfill their sexual desires but the major reason behind opting for live in relationship is that before marriage both the couple want to see whether they are compatible with each other, this is good in the sense that marriage is a lifelong relationship and before entering into that sacred relationship everyone has the right to decide whether his or her partner is perfect or not.

Another problem that the Indian society attaches with live in relationships is that it makes a man and women shrug away from their responsibilities and hence make them careless, many conservatives are of the view that live in relationship is a bad influence on the Indian society by the western world.

This kind of mentality needs a rethinking as society accepts only those influences with which the people are comfortable and if it is not harmful.

Individual liberty and freedom are the essences of democracy and hence these two principals must be respected in any democratic society.

Thankfully the new generations are much more open-minded and are broad-minded when it comes to live in relationships and they have released that societal restriction must not harm the individual freedom and it must be left to the individual themselves to decide which practice is harmful to them and which are not.

Live in relationship is a substitute of Marriage?

The big question that arises is that whether the Indian Society is ready to accept Live in relationship as a substitute of Marriage, the Supreme Court in the case of Badri Prasad v. Dy. Director of Consolidation granted a legal status to the couple who lived-in live-in relationship for almost 50 years.

Therefore, one thing which must be taken into consideration while granting a legal status to a live-in relationship is that the couple should be living together for some reasonable period of time.

It is obvious that marriage and living together are two different things, not every time a live-in couple will end up marrying each other and hence these two concepts cannot be mixed with each other.

Live in relationship as discoursed above is a very recent development in the Indian context and therefore it would not be completely accepted in one go and that in one way is completely fine, live in relationship is a western concept and hence it becomes more important to analyse the both sides of the coin before reaching to a conclusion, as of now the Indian Society does not grant the same position to live in couples than married couples and therefore even in 21stcentury a couple who is married is given more respect in the society than a couple who is not married.

One big issue that is associated with live in couples is that what would happen to the children who are born out of live in relationship, as per Hindu Marriage Act,1955 children born out before marriages are considered to be the legitimate children of their parents, however the problem arises when the couple decide to live apart and none of the parent is keen to take responsibility of the child, in that situation the court or the legislators must ensure that one of the parent must take the responsibility of the child, for securing the rights of the child the court must appoint a guardian, and the child must get all the rights to take in the property of his father as well as his mother.

In the case of Bharata Matha it was held by the Supreme Court that a child born out of live in relationship is a legitimate child and he has the right to access the property of his parents excluding the ancestral undivided property.

With all these issues it can be said that practically live in Relationships cannot be a substitute of marriage, however, it can be an alternative to marriage as if the couple are eager to live together but not get tied in marital responsibilities then it is completely fine if they go for live in relationship.

The question that arises is whether live-in relationships be recognized by the government and if yes why not make a law on it.

Former Union Law Minister Mr. H.R. Bharadwaj in 2008 showed interest in the making legislation for legalizing live-in relationships and proposed that if the society is ready for it then the government has no problem making a law on it, however no such concrete steps have been taken to further the issue.

 Pros of a Live-In Relationship:-

 1. You can be just yourself as there is no pressure for pleasing the parents or extended families also you can divide the expenditure. The societal duties and the burden of families need not be shared and a person can actually enjoy his/her personal space in the relationship. They have lot of financial freedom

2. People in cohabitation generally get lot of time to know each other’s nature and temperament. This makes it easier for them to take a decision of getting married with their live in partner. People get to check their emotional and physical compatibility.

3. Live in relationships are usually free of legal obligations of any kind. If you are not happy with your partner and you feel that there is no scope of improvement, you can easily walk out of the relationship and there will be no legal harassment like divorce filing etc.

4. People in live in relationships are very practical in approach and they feel that they are both equally responsible parties to the relationship. Also both are not dependent on each other financially, emotionally or legally since the door out of the relationship is always open.

Cons of a Live-In Relationship:-

1. People don’t pledge themselves to each other and hence lacks a loyalty factor.

2. Lack the stability and resect that marriages can offer.

3. Women could be more vulnerable to exploitation as they have lesser legal rights as compared to married women.

 4. Society frowns and ostracises them.

1. Goode william, J. 1965. The Family, New Jersey, Prentice Hall PTR. Englewood clifts. 2. Kapadia K.M. 1966. Marriage and Family in India. England, Oxford University Press. 3. Ahuja, Ram. 2013. The Indian Social System. Jaipur: Rawat. 4. Law Journals 5. Various Supreme Court Judgements :- 6. Badri Prasad v. Dy. Director of Consolidation 7. 1978 AIR 1557, 1978 SCC (3)527 8. Indra Sarma v. VKV Sarma 9. (2013) AIR (SCW) 6783, (2014) AIR (SC) 309 10. Payal Sharma v. Superintendent, Nari Niketan, and others, 11. (2001) AIR (Allahabad) 254, (2001) 3 JCR 90 12. Khusboo v. Kanniamal and anr. (2010) AIR (SCW) 2770, (2010) AIR (SC) 3196 13. D.Velusamy v D.Patchaiammal 14. (2010) AIR (SCW) 6731, (2011) AIR (SC) 225 15. Tulsa v. Durghatiya 15. (2008) AIR (SCW) 1148, (2008) AIR (SC) 1193 16. Uday Gupta v. Ayesha and anr. 17. (2014) 139 AIC 58, (2014) 7 SCJ 209 18. Supreme Court/ High Court Digest 19. Materials available on Internet 20. Law & Justice Live-In Relationship Law & Procedures by Urmi A Nanchachal. 21. https://triumphias.com/blog/live-in-relationship-in-indian-society/