Kerala High Court Upholds Adults’ Right to Live Together

“We can’t close our eye to the fact that live in relations are rampant in our society,” the judgment read.

The Kerala High Court has asked the GCDA to compensate the shop owners.

(Photo Courtesy: The News Minute)

In a landmark judgment, the Kerala High Court has allowed a 18-year-old boy and a 19-year-old girl to live together, reported News18.

While delivering the judgment, the judge said, “We can't close our eyes to the fact that live-in relations are rampant in our society and such partners cannot be separated by habeas corpus."

According to a report in The New Indian Express, the judgment was delivered by a bench comprising of Justice V Chitambaresh and Justice K P Jyothindranath dismissing the petition filed by the 19-year-old’s father, Muhammed Riyad.

Earlier in May, the Supreme Court of India stood by the freedom of choice where it held that an adult couple has a right to live together without marriage.

The top court had said that live-in relationships were now even recognised by the Legislature and they had found a place under the provisions of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.

The observations came while the apex court was hearing a plea filed by one Nandakumar against a Kerala High Court order annulling his marriage with Thushara on the grounds that he had not attained the legal age of marriage.

The apex court had also clarified that a court cannot interfere in the marriage of two consenting adults and cannot annul the marriage in a habeas corpus petition.

(With inputs from PTI, News18, The New Indian Express and The News Minute)