A STUDY ON LIVE-IN RELATIONSHIP UNDER UCC IN UTTARAKHAND

ABSTRACT

The Revolution of personal laws is made by the independent state government of Uttarakhand which paves the pathways for the secular nation. It is the first state to enforce the Unified code to manage the religious affairs, disputes and prescribe the manner to conduct the religious ceremonies. The modern form of marriage is the cohabitation between the like-minded people who form a common shelter and live without affording the ceremony of marriage. The couples living under the system of the non-marriage institution are popularly known as “Live-in Relationship”. The consent between the parties plays a vital role in the recognition of the modern institution.

In the 21st century, countries around the world made recognition of the live-in couples in the legal system. But in India, it is not legally recognised as in the form of statute. The State of Uttarakhand takes the effective steps to make legal recognition for the live-in couples and guarantees the protection of life and maintenance between the partners of those who are under the common shelter. The Research paper addresses the meaning, nature, recognition, registration and the prescribed punishment for the non-registration within the local jurisdiction under the Uniform Civil Code of State of Uttarakhand in the secular nation.

KEYWORDS: Unified code, Secular, Live-in couples, Registration, Mandatory.

INTRODUCTION

The Live-in relationship comes under the scope of the uniform civil which is drafted and implemented forcefully in Uttarakhand. It is the first attempt made by the government to recognise the modern form of living prevails among the people. The customs and the traditions allow only the system of marriage, not the live-in couples. It is the foundation stone to treat the live-in concept as equivalent to that of marriage.

Mandatory registration of marriage paves ways for the disputing partners to get the relief for their basic needs to lead a healthy life in the society. Likewise, the registration is made compulsory for the couples who are in the common shelter without affording the ceremony of marriage. It imposed the rights and liabilities upon the partners in the eyes of the law. But, the traditional society of the secular nation considered the concept of live-in relationship as a taboo one. Even so, the state of Uttarakhand gave importance over their residents and made acceptance over the concept of live-in couples in their jurisdiction.

The new concept of live-in couples and their recognition as equivalent to the couples of marriage is discussed in the modern code of Uttarakhand, implies that the secular nation made concerns over the western culture and start to adopt and regulate it in the purview of the Indian laws in order to safeguard the lives of the people.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Jayanta Ghosh, Live-in Relationship & Hindu Marriage: A Critical Legal Analysis, 110-125 (Omniscriptum Gmbh & Company Kg, 2015): The Journal encompasses the textual arguments that the Malimath Committee report was examined in order to find out the difficulties of the women and its outcome of the Protection of Women from Domestic violence Act of 2005 also analysed. It defined the situation of women in non-conjugal relationships and their harmful effects. Moreover, the author explained the powerless condition of women in live-in relations and their need for the legal modification and protection in the current legal system.
R Shameksha, Exploring the Dynamics and Implication of Live-in Relationships: A Comprehensive Analysis (IJFMR, 2023): The article clarifies that the live-in relationship seeks greater attention in the modern thoughts in order to challenge and replace the traditional system of marriage. It deeply examined the various existing literatures, social, political perspectives and the legal implications to shed light on the rise of live-in relationships in the nation. Finally, the author observed the dynamics of the live-in relationship and gave suggestions to the policy makers, researchers and the young scholars to legalize the existing non-conjugal relationship.
Prof. Vijender Kumar, Live-in Relationship: Impact on Marriage and Family Institutions, (2012): The author has critically analysed and clarified the growth of live-in relationships among the people in the democratic nation. It is developed in the urban areas upon the influence of western thoughts and their freedom of life guaranteed under the law. In India, they are transformed into the live-in partners rather than association of marriage and the traditional system has faded. As a result, the live-in partners faced a lot of difficulties and the author insisted that the law should give protection to them.

METHODOLOGY

The paper analyses the qualitative data and of descriptive nature. The research is based on secondary sources for the deep analysis of the live-in relationship and its recognition under UCC in Uttarakhand. The secondary sources such as newspapers, journals and websites are utilised for the research.

The research topic of the article reflects the adoption of western thoughts in the traditional nation. The information is collected as relevant to the research topic from the literature, published books and research articles. The additional information was gathered from the internet sources. The research greatly utilizes the logical deductive method to make concise information. The collective information will result as a collective knowledge helps to make more suggestions and initiatives towards the legal recognition of live-in relationships in the secular nation.

DEFINITION

“A relationship between a man and woman, referred to as a partner, who cohabits in a shared household through a relationship in the nature of a marriage” is known as live-in relationship under the Uniform Civil Code.

The Bill defines the “shared household as where an adult man and an adult woman live under one roof in an accommodation.”

INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK

The cohabitation between the man and woman without involving any legal formalities are known as de-facto relationships. The live-in relationship got recognised by the different regions of the world. They are:

WESTERN COUNTRIES

The practice of living in a relationship is an evolving concept of the western culture. It is commonly practiced by those people in most of the western countries. The legal rights and protection for the live-in couples are guaranteed. Countries like the Netherlands and Sweden recognised this institution as equivalent to that of the institution of marriage.

NORTH AMERICA

The youngster adopts the live-in relationship and follows it in replace of the institution of marriage in the United States of America. In Canada, live-in coupes are more prevalent than married ones.

It is recognised as one of the social norms as it guarantees the property rights and child custody to the partners under the live-in relationship.

ASIA

The urban areas recognised the live-in relationship as a social institution. But the rural areas considered it to be an illegal and evil concept as to our ancient tradition. In our secular nation, it is ambiguous in the eye of the law.

AFRICA

The countries in Africa are greatly influenced by their own culture and tradition. It paves the way that the authorisation of the live-in relationship is not constant in all the countries.

MIDDLE EAST

The Middle Eastern countries also greatly influenced their own religious beliefs, making them a barrier to recognise this relationship. But it slowly evolved, the live-in relationship started gaining its place in the purview of the legal system.

LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK

Uttarakhand is the first independent state to make an attempt to draft the Uniform Civil Code to eradicate the irregularities among the various religions followed by the residents of the particular state. It mandates the registration of marriages and the live-in relationship and the procedures for all of them are prescribed. The examination of the boys and girls living in a live-in relationship are made in order to find out the eligibility, intention of the partners and to ensure the protection of the women under the ambit of the Code. The section 378 – 388 of the uniform code deals with the legitimacy of the live-in relationship in the state of Uttarakhand.

The Sarkari Yojana Registration scheme of 2024mandates the registration of the live-in partners in order to enforce their legitimate rights in the eye of law. The live-in couples apply for a statement of live-in relationship through the application made in the Online platform. The State government of Uttarakhand issues a notification for the compulsory registration of the live-in relationship within their local limits of jurisdictions. If they are not registered, the punishment will be enforced upon the live-in couples by the Judicial Magistrate of the respective jurisdiction. Once registered the certificate for live-in relationship is provided for the couples in order to legitimate their status and rights of cohabitation in the society.

PROCEDURE FOR REGISTRATION

Irrespective of their religion, the live-in partners in the state have to follow the prescribed procedure as mentioned in the Code of 2024.

The partners will submit the statement of the live in relationship to the registrar in a prescribed format.
The examination of the details of the statement and an inquiry of the live-in relationship done by the authority.
In that inquiry, the summons were sent to the couples by the registrar as to produce any evidence to prove their solidarity of relationship.
After the inquiry, the registrar can allow the couples for the registration process or to reject them.

LIVE IN RELATIONSHIP CERTIFICATE

After the registration process, the certificate is generated and available in the online portal introduced by the government of Uttarakhand. It Authorises their relationship and creates the martial rights and obligations between the parties.

MAINTENANCE

The personal law does not effectively deal with the remedies available to the deserted partner. The pathway for the dissolution of marriage is there. The execution of the maintenance is not in full force.

PENALTY

The live-in couples staying in a common shelter without undergoing any registration of the live in relationship agreement shall be punished. The prescribed punishment would be conviction by judicial magistrate with the imprisonment for a term of 3 months and fine amount of 10,000 rupees.

As per the section 381 of the civil code, the false statement made by the live-in partners for the purpose of live-in relationship registration shall be punished with the period of imprisonment of 3 months and the fine of 25,000 rupees.

JUDICIAL FRAMEWORK

The Apex Court held that the live-in relationship may be a part of the women in a relationship in the nature of the marriage defined under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act of 2005. It also prescribes the eligibility criteria for such a relationship involving the legal age of marriage, voluntarily co-habituated and the free consent of the partners. The Malimath Committee setup by the Supreme Court stated that the term of “married woman” includes the live-in women residing under the common shelter with her live-in period for a reasonably long period.

In the case of Supriyo V. Union of India, the court stated that the queer couples are not entitled to marriage or live-in relationship prescribed under the code. The reason is that the marriage is a religious ceremony outside the limits of the courts. The Child born out of the live-in relationship is considered to be a legitimate child and they have the property rights under the case of Bharatha Matha V. R. Vijaya Renganatham.

ANALYSIS

The Common set of personal laws drafted and implemented by the government of the Uttarakhand receives a mixed review among the people. The UCC gave birth to the institution of live-in relationship that prevails in modern society. The people saw that institution as evil in the starting stage because it is against their tradition and it is the way to eradicate the institution of marriage.

The live-in relationship gained its status as equivalent to the martial bond accepted by the majority of the people in the state. But the recognition of the relationship under the ambit of the code is welcomed by the youngsters and it guarantees the protection to the live-in couples. The people of the state thought that it is the safety measure taken by the government in order to reduce the crimes against the women occurring during the live-in relationship. The obligations imposed upon the partners paves the way to reduce or abolish crimes such as pregnancy cheating, abandoned partner, illegitimacy of the child as per the Uniform civil code. The People opined that the non-registration of such a relationship is an offence and live-in partners got penalised is the revolutionised way to strongly impose rights and obligations upon the persons that are co-habituated under the common shelter.

CHALLENGES

The voluntary cohabitation made by the parties with their own consent has high chances of occurrence of crimes against women by the other partner.
It leads to the pathway for the bigamy and adultery to prevail over society.
It violates the principles of the Muslim law.
It creates many religious disputes among the partners from the various religions.
The instability of the bond occurred between the live-in couples, it increases the burden of the court.

SUGGESTIONS

The Code made the mandatory clause of arbitration in the agreement of the live-in relationship, it paves the way to resolve the disputes among them in an amicable manner.
The Code made the separate provision for the maintenance and the division of the property for the children born out of such relationship upon the live-in couples made the termination statement of their relationship to the registrar.
The Code mandates that the child born out of such relationships are properly cared for by the partners and imposed a penalty upon them.
The Code includes the provision that the option for live-in wife/ live-in husband in their official portals to apply for any jobs or education qualifications.
The Uniform Civil Code of Uttarakhand must prohibit polygamy in the institution of live-in relationship.

CONCLUSION

Uttarakhand is the fore frontier of all states and takes the consideration over the modern ideology. The government of the state of Uttarakhand took the significant step towards the legitimacy of the live-in relationship in their uniform civil code. The combination of the aspects of inheritance, maintenance and the property rights available to the partners is guaranteed in the code.

The new institution of live-in relationship is recognised and treated as equivalent to the traditional institute of marriage. The registration process is mandatory for the live-in partners to give protection to them and it facilitates the government to find out the prevalence of the institution in the society. Even though it is legally recognised, it has various loopholes as it paves the way for the emergence of bigamy and adultery among the adults. The punishment prescribed upon the non-registered live-in couples only gave protection to themselves. So, the government made effective steps to prevent them also. In the state of Uttarakhand, people are ready to accept it as legal and moral institutions irrespective of religion that leads the way to achieve the status of a secular nation.

REFERENCES

Avantika Sarkar, “Law, Religion and Conjugal Ties: A Study On live-in relationships in Contemporary Indian Society, (IJHRLR Volume 1) 115-119.
Dr. PriyaSepaha, Live-in Relationship in India: Laws and Challenges,(Law Colloquy Journal of Legal Studies, Volume 1) 238-256.
Sarkariyojana scheme, https://www.sarkariyojana.com (last visited Feb 18, 2024)
Live-in relationship deeds, https://www.livelaw.in (last visited Feb 19, 2024)
Degrees of Prohibited Relationship for live-in, https://housing.com/news (last visited Feb 21, 2024)
Dr. Paras Diwan, Family law (Allahabad Law agency, Haryana) 189-199.
Uttarakhand UCC bill, https://thewalkers.co.in/judge (last visited Feb 24, 2024.)
Supriyo V. Union of India W.P.(C) No. 1011/2022.
Bharatha Matha & Another V. R. Vijaya Renganathan AIR 2000 SC 735.
Anuja Agarwal, Law and Live in Relationships, Economic and Political (Volume 9) 45-60.