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Sunday, March 29, 2026

Married Persons Cannot Enter Into Live-In Relationship Without Obtaining Divorce: Allahabad HC Refuses Protection

Sparsh Upadhyay 28 Mar 2026 12:25 PM

A single judge of the Allahabad High Court on March 20 observed that an individual who is already married and has a living spouse cannot legally be permitted to enter into a live-in relationship with a third person without seeking a divorce from the earlier spouse.

A bench of Justice Vivek Kumar Singh made this observation while disposing of a writ petition filed by a couple (both married to different partners) seeking mandamus directing the respondents not to interfere with their peaceful life and to provide protection.

Also Read - Section 144 BNSS | Daughter-In-Law Not Legally Obligated To Maintain Parents-In-Law : Allahabad High Court

It was the case of the petitioners that they were living together as husband and wife and had an apprehension of a life threat from the respondents.

The State, however, opposed the plea, as it was argued that both petitioners were already married and their act was illegal as they had not obtained a decree of divorce from a competent court.

Taking into account the facts of the case, the Court, at the outset, noted that in a marriage or live-in relationship, there must be two consenting adult human beings, and the concepts of gotra, caste, and religion are left behind. The Court observed that no one, not even parents, has the right to interfere in the personal liberty of two adults.

Justice Singh, however, explicitly clarified that the Right to Freedom or Right to Personal Liberty is not an absolute or unfettered right and that the freedom of one person ceases where another person's statutory right begins.

Importantly, the single judge stressed that a spouse has a statutory right to the company of their counterpart, and that right cannot be deprived for the sake of personal liberty. The HC added that the freedom of one person cannot encroach on or outweigh the legal right of another person.

Also Read - No Offence If Married Man Stays In Live-In Relationship With Adult Woman: Allahabad High Court

"If the petitioners are already married and have their spouse alive, he/she cannot be legally permitted to enter into live-in relationship with a third person without seeking divorce from the earlier spouse. He/she first has to obtain the decree of divorce from the court of competent jurisdiction before solemnizing marriage or entering into living in a relationship out of their legal marriage," the bench further remarked.

Ruling On the question of relief to the petitioners, the bench observed that a mandamus can be issued only if the petitioner has a legal right to the performance of a legal duty by the party against whom the mandamus is sought, and such right must be subsisting on the date of the petition.

However, the Court opined that the petitioners have no legal right to protection on the facts of the present case inasmuch as the protection sought may amount to protection against the commission of an offence under Section 494/495 IPC.

"It is well settled law that writ of mandamus can not be issued contrary to law or to defeat a statutory provision including penal provision. The petitioners do not have legally protected and judicially enforceable subsisting right to ask for mandamus...this Court is not inclined to issue any writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus for protection to the petitioners who are in a live-in relationship without obtaining decree of divorce from competent court as mentioned above" the bench noted.

Thus, refusing to issue the writ, the Court disposed of the petition with the observation that if the petitioners are subjected to violence, they may approach the Superintendent of Police with a detailed application.

Significantly, a perusal of various orders passed by Justice Singh reveals a consistent approach. Relying on this exact legal reasoning, his bench has repeatedly denied police protection to live-in couples where either one or both partners are already married to someone else.

Interestingly, in stark contrast to this Single Judge order, a Division Bench of the High Court, just five days after passing of this particular order, observed that there is no offence if a married man lives with an adult in a live-in relationship with the other person's consent.

Stressing that morality and law must remain separate, the Division Bench of Justice JJ Munir and Justice Tarun Saxena stated that social opinions and moral views will not dictate the Court's actions when protecting citizens' rights.

This contrasting observation was made while the Division Bench was hearing a separate petition seeking protection for a live-in couple allegedly facing threats from the woman's family.

Finding that a prima facie case was made out, the Court admitted the petition and issued notices to the respondents. It granted the state counsel two weeks' time to file a counter-affidavit.

The bench also granted immediate relief to the couple (an 18-year-old woman and a married man) and directed that, until further orders, the petitioners shall not be arrested in the criminal case registered under Section 87 of the BNS at Police Station Jaitipur in Shahjahanpur district.

To ensure their absolute protection, the Division Bench restrained the informant and all members of the woman's family from causing any harm to the parties in life or limb.

The bench further directed that the family members shall not enter the parties' matrimonial home or contact them directly, through any electronic means of communication, or through the agency of others.

The Superintendent of Police, Shahjahanpur, shall be personally responsible for ensuring the safety and security of the petitioners, the bench added.

Read more about the division bench order here : No Offence If Married Man Stays In Live-In Relationship With Adult Woman: Allahabad High Court

Case title - Anju And Another vs. State Of U.P. And 3 Others 2026 LiveLaw (AB) 145

Case citation : 2026 LiveLaw (AB) 145

Florida man sells family home for $954,800 using ChatGPT, $100,000 above agent estimates

TOI World DeskTIMESOFINDIA.COM

Mar 29, 2026, 2:41 AM

A Florida man has sold his family home in just five days for nearly $1 million after relying on the AI bot ChatGPT instead of a traditional estate agent.

Robert Levine, a Miami resident and father of three, said he turned to artificial intelligence to handle almost every part of the sale, from pricing the property to marketing it. The four-bedroom, three-bathroom home eventually sold for $954,800, around $100,000 above what local agents had estimated. Levine said the decision was part of an experiment.“I really wanted to challenge myself to use AI for the entire journey, not just piecemeal,” he told NBC Miami.

He added: “Every step along the way.” Instead of hiring a broker, he used the chatbot to build a selling plan, decide on a price and improve the presentation of the house. The AI tool recommended specific upgrades it believed would increase value. “We repainted a couple of rooms in the house because ChatGPT said that’s where you’re going to get the biggest return on investment,” Levine said.

ChatGPT also helped create the listing description, advised on when to put the home on the market and guided him through the process of listing it on the Multiple Listing Service. It suggested launching the listing midweek to attract more buyers. The strategy worked well. Within three days of listing the property, Levine received five offers. By the end of the week, he had agreed on a deal.

He also used the same tool to help draft the contract. “It exceeded our expectations,” Levine said. He added that the pricing advice from the chatbot gave him more confidence than traditional agents. “When we met with real estate agents they lacked confidence in pricing,” Levine told Fortune. He added, “ChatGPT gave us more confidence in price points of where the market was going.”

Although Levine used a lawyer to review the final paperwork, he believes the approach helped him save money. “We estimate that leveraging these AI tools will save us about 3% of the total sale price, which in our case is a meaningful amount of money,” he said. Despite the success, Levine said artificial intelligence should not completely replace human professionals. “The impact they make is very real,” he said.

NEWS TODAY 29.03.2026

Oldest law school in Maharashtra mislabels LLB degree in certs

Hemali.Chhapia@timesofindia.com 29.03.2026court

Mumbai : The reputed Government Law College (GLC) in Churchgate has issued third-year, second-semester certificates carrying an incorrect expansion of the LLB degree as “Bachelor of Legislative Law,” a nomenclature not recognised by the Bar Council of India or Mumbai University, under which the 170-year-old institution operates.

‘LLB’ stands for the Latin term, ‘Legum Baacalaureus’. In English, it is referred to as ‘Bachelor of Laws’. When contacted, principal Asmita Vaidya initially asked this reporter to check the “full form of LLB on the internet and on the MU website.” When informed that it stands for Bachelor of Laws, she said the marksheet format was from the University of Mumbai. Later she said her college could not have issued a certificate with an erroneous expansion. On Friday, Vaidya told TOI that an office clerk had made the mistake after referring to an online source.

“Fresh corrected certificates are being printed and distributed,” she said. By evening, the college issued a notice asking second, third and fourth year students to collect their marksheet “with the title as per university norms.”

ACADEMIC SLIP-UP

Saturday, March 28, 2026

DM arrives late, sparks min’s fury, reprimand

Neha.Lalchandani@timesofindia.com

28.03.2026

Lucknow : Made to wait for 45 minutes by the district magistrate at a govt event in his own assembly constituency, Kannauj Sadar, on Thursday, social welfare minister (independent charge) Asim Arun , who was invited as chief guest, first walked out of the programme and later wrote to the district magistrate demanding that he and his team should be more punctual in future..

The matter did not end there as the minister started a campaign on Friday evening, asking people to cite incidents where their time was wasted by someone. He named the campaign as ‘Viksit Bharat aur late latifi ek saath nahi chal sakte’. The minister added that it was necessary to emulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for punctuality and discipline.

Earlier, the minister took the initiative to monitor calls being made by public representatives to officers, after complaints that often their calls were not being attended to for days. Asim told TOI that both the campaigns were aimed at making the bureaucracy answerable.

Holding high posts does not give moral right to waste time of others, says Asim In his letter to district magistrate Ashutosh Mohan Agnihotri, after which the DM tendered a ‘letter of regret’, the minister said that at an event organised at Roma Smarak on Thursday, he was invited as chief guest for the event that was to begin at 5.30pm.

In his letter to the DM, Arun wrote: “The chief organiser was SDM Vaishali who reached 15 minutes after me. The ADM arrived even after her. I waited for around 45 minutes for the programme to start. During this time, they kept announcing from the stage that the event will begin after your arrival. You will agree that the situation became intolerable for me. Nobody knew when you would come so I had no option but to leave.”

Launching the campaign, Arun said that it was not the issue of insult to any minister and asked that had he not been the chief guest, would the seriousness of this delay be less. He said that people holding high posts did not have a moral right to waste the time of others. “If India wants to become Viksit Bharat, then it is necessary to shed half-heartedness and negligence from our working style. We will have to add punctuality in our DNA. We will have to adhere to time like citizens of Germany, Japan and Switzerland,” he said.

He asked people to respond with what steps were needed to ensure punctuality at personal and administrative levels in India, as is seen in developed countries. Later, in a letter apologizing to the minister Kannauj DM Ashutosh Mohan Agnihotri blamed a “delay in communication” for the incident. The 2016 batch officer said in his letter that the event had been organized by the District Tourism and Culture Council, Kannauj and the programme was to begin at 5.30 pm. However, the DM added, “the district tourism officer informed him that the show required use of LED lights and at 5.30 pm, a lot of sunlight was anticipated on the open stage. Participants were also delayed and the district tourism officer requested your representative to ask you to delay your arrival till 6.30 pm”. The unpleasant situation arose due to a delay in the communication, he added.