Live-in relationships give rise to sexual offences, says Indian high court

An Indian high court has claimed that live-in relationships are responsible for a rise in sexual offences, and for promoting "lascivious behaviour."

The Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court made the remarks while hearing an anticipatory bail petition of a man accused of raping a woman for months and then forcing her to terminate her pregnancy.

The remarks were made by Justice Subodh Abhyankar while rejecting the anticipatory bail of the accused. The woman had known the accused since 2016 and had accused him of spiking her drink and making a video of the sexual act.

In the order dated April 12, the court stated, "Taking note of the spurt of such offences in recent times arising out of live-in relationships, this court is forced to observe that the bane of live-in-relationships is a by-product of constitutional guarantee... engulfing the ethos of Indian society, and promoting lascivious behaviour, giving further rise to sexual offences."

The court further said that the woman got pregnant more than twice and was forced to terminate the pregnancies. Once their relationship was over and the woman got engaged to someone else in January this year, the man became a "jilted lover."

The man even sent the videos to the woman's would be in-laws and threatened them stating that he would commit suicide, according to a report in Hindustan Times.

He said that they will also be held responsible if something happens to him. This led to the cancellation of the woman's marriage, said the court, citing the prosecution's case.

The court added that "those who wished to exploit the freedom [of live-in relationships] were quick to embrace it, but were ignorant of its limitations ad does not confer any right on any of the partners of such relationship."

In an earlier judgment, the Justice Subodh Abhyankar-led bench had said "girls do not indulge in carnal activities with boys just for fun, unless she is promised marriage by the boy," because India is still a conservative society.