HC: Unmarried same-sex couples can live together
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Nainital: 21.06.2020
The Uttarakhand high court, while hearing a habeas corpus petition earlier this month, held that same-sex couples have the right to live together even if they are not competent to enter into a wedlock.
A single bench of Justice Sharad Kumar Sharma made this observation on June 12 while hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by a woman alleging that her partner — a major with whom she has been in a consensual relationship since 2016 — has been illegally confined by her mother and brother.
Citing Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which upholds right to life and personal liberty, the judge said, “Intimacy of marriage, including the choice of partner, which an individual makes, on whether or not to marry and whom to marry are the aspects which exclusively lie outside the control of the state or the society. The court as an upholder of the constitutional freedom has to safeguard that such a relationship where there is a choice exclusively vested with a major person, has to be honoured.”
“In view of the above concept, this court is in agreement that the consensual cohabitation between two adults of the same sex cannot in our understanding be illegal far less a crime because it’s a fundamental right which is being guaranteed to the person under Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” he added.
Justice Sharma said that individuals, even those belonging to the same sex, have the “right to live together even outside wedlock”, adding that a live-in relationship is now recognised by the legislature too.
Justice Sharma said that individuals, even those belonging to the same sex, have the “right to live together even outside wedlock”, adding that a live-in relationship is now recognised by the legislature too
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