Legally Sane

On 12/01/2021, Hon’ble Allahabad High Court has delivered a landmark judgment in an interesting Habeas Corpus Petition where a Muslim girl Safia Sultana after converting to Hindu religion and renamed as Simran, married to Abhishek Kumar Pandey, a Hindu boy, in accordance with Hindu rituals. Her father was not happy with this marriage and therefore he didn't allow her daughter to live with her husband. Court has directed for the presence of Safia Sultana and her father after filing of the Habeas Corpus petition, both Safia Sultana and her father appeared before the court, wherein, Safia Sultana had shown her interest and desire to live with her husband and her father also accepted the fact that she is an adult and free to make her choices. Further, in this case, the young couple expressed that they could have solemnized their marriage under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 but the said Act requires a 30 days notice to be published and objections to be invited from the public at large....

It is an old saying that "no person(natural or juristic) can be perfect" and legislatures are no exception of it.  In the year of 2019, President of India, in the exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of Article 370 of the Constitution made an order namely Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 2019 by which Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1954, as amended from time to time, was superseded and territorial application of whole Indian Constitution was extended to include the state of Jammu and Kashmir. In the same year Parliament enacted Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019(hereinafter referred to as "Act 34 of 2019") by which the state of Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into two Union Territories. Section 95(1) of the Act 34 of 2019 states that All Central laws in Table -1 of the Fifth Schedule to the Act 34 of 2019, on and from the appointed day, shall apply in the manner as provided therein, to the Union territ...

In India, no legal definition is available in relation to live-in relationship but it can be ordinarily defined as an arrangement in which an unmarried couple lives together and establishes sexual relationship that resembles a marriage in order to test their compatibility and due to some other reasons. Live-in or marriage like relationship is neither a crime nor a sin though socially unacceptable in this country. The decision to marry or not to marry or to have a heterosexual or homosexual relationship is intensely personal.  In S. Khushboo Vs. Kanniammal, the Hon’ble Supreme Court has held that, a live-in relationship comes within the ambit of right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. The Court further held that live-in relationships are permissible and the act of two major living together cannot be considered illegal or unlawful. In Lata Singh Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh, it was observed that a live-in relationship between two consenting adults of heterosexual s...