Muslims can’t claim rights to live-in relationship, if they have living spouse: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court has ruled that Muslims cannot claim a right to a live-in relationship if they have a spouse, as such a relationship contradicts Islamic principles.

A two-judge bench led by Justices AR Masoodi and AK Srivastava made these remarks while hearing a writ petition by a Hindu woman and Muslim man, who were seeking protection from police action after the woman's parents filed a kidnapping complaint against the man, and ordered her be returned to her parents under guard.

While being in a live-in relationship, the petitioners said that the woman's parents filed an FIR against the man, accusing him of kidnapping her and trying to marry her then.

They also sought protection for their life and liberty, claiming they were adults who, according to the Supreme Court, were free to live together in a live-in relationship.

However, in further investigations, it was revealed that the Muslim man had already been married in 2020 and was also the father of one.

Responding to this the court said, "Islamic tenets do not permit live-in relationships during the subsisting marriage. The position may be different if the two persons are unmarried and the parties being major choose to lead their lives in a way of their own."

While the couple sought protection under Article 21 (protection of life and personal liberty), the court observed, "The constitutional morality may come to the rescue of such a couple and the social morality settled through the customs and usages over ages may give way to the constitutional morality and protection under Article 21 of the Constitution of India may step in to protect the cause. The case before us is, however, different."