Live-in-relationships and the Indian Outlook

From a long time Indian society has been quite reserved and have frowned upon the topic of Live-In-Relationships.A person is considered to be in live-in relationship when he/she lives with his/her partner without tying the knot of marriage.
This relation resembles marriage, whereas both the couples are still allowed to move out anytime they want and end the relationship if they do not find it working for them anymore.Growing percentage of such couples in the society shows that society has started to accept it.This is a growth of the society growing to have a modern outlook.
Although the issues for women in live-in is still the same, they are not considered as a “Wife” and lacks social approval.

In the earlier times it was not even supported by law also,but the increasing number of couples and domestic violence cases forced the law to be passed in 2005.The partner of a live-in relationship was first time accorded protection by the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, which considers females who are not married formally, but are living with a male person in a relationship with him, which is in the nature of marriage, also akin to wife, though not equivalent to wife. The Supreme Court in D. Veluswamy v. D. Patchaiammal has opined that the Parliament has drawn a distinction between the relationship of marriage and the relationship in the nature of marriage, and has provided that in either case the person is entitled to benefits under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.

Such relationships might look interesting and appealing in the beginning, when you first think to live together and to know each other.Obviously it looks safer from outside that you can move out as soon as you end the relationship and unlike marriage there is no formal procedure to follow(like if you get a divorce) from your spouse.But at times these relationships become complex gradually when the issues arises on the matters of maintenance, legitimacy of children, inheritance and other important matters etc.

Therefore, the need today is to get a better and a complete legal system to handle live-in cases, as they can not be interlinked to marriage cases at all and also to think before getting into a wrong commitment, as sometimes alterations disfigure the whole models.

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