The Supreme Court judgement stated that the High Court could not have annulled the marriage in the case, even assuming that the marriage was not legally valid.
Kerala State Solicitor Vipin Nyer told SBS Hindi that the case in question related to a girl named Tushara and a boy named Nand Kumar.
They married against their family’s wishes. Tushara’s father later filed a petition in the High Court deeming the marriage illegal as the boy had not attained the legal age of marriage of 21 under the Hindu Marriage Act. Tushara’s father appealed for his daughter’s custody.
Kerela high court declared the marriage as illegal.
At the time of the marriage, Tushara was 19 while Nand Kumar was only 20, below the legal age of marriage. The Kerala High Court had, therefore, declared the marriage illegal and had entrusted the custody of Tushara to her father.
Nand Kumar was aware that he had not attained the legal age of marriage yet, but he was against the court ruling of entrusting the custody of an adult against her wishes. So he filed the petition in the Supreme Court.
Supreme Court’s decision
However, the Supreme Court’s bench, which comprised of two Judges, ruled against Kerala’s High Court decision and stated that no court, person or institution had the right to violate an individual‘s right to marry as per his wishes.
It stated that even if a boy was under the legal marriageable age, he had the right to live with his partner. The couple could decide later to get married or continue the live-in relationship.
Supreme Court judgement
The Supreme Court has said in the past that live-in relationships had become an accepted norm in society.
In 2015, a bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant observed,"In modern times, the live-in relationship has become an acceptable norm. It is not a crime."
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