HC allows teenaged couple to live together

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala high court on Friday allowed an 18-year-old boy and 19-year-old girl to live together, saying it cannot close its eyes to the fact that such relationships have become common in society.

A division bench of justices V Chitambaresh and KP Jyothindranath pronounced the judgment while dismissing a habeas corpus petition filed by the girl’s father. The Supreme Court had recently held that an adult couple has a right to live together without marriage, while asserting that a 20-year-old Kerala woman, whose marriage had been annulled, could choose whom she wanted to live with.

The father of the girl moved the high court alleging that his daughter was illegally detained by the boy. Both the girl and the boy are Muslims and hail from Alappuzha district.

The father also mentioned that marriageable age of man is 21 and woman is 18 in the country. But the court cited the recent verdict of the apex court that held adults have rights to be in a live-in relationship even if they have not attained the legal age of marriage. “The court is bound to respect the unfettered right of a major to have a live-in relationship even though it may not be palatable to the orthodox section of the society,” it said while rejecting the father’s petition.

The court held that the girl is free to live with the boy or marry him later when he attains the marriageable age. It also noted that both are in a live-in relationship and are practically living as husband and wife, though not legally wedded.

“It transpires that the girl is living with the boy out of her own volition and she being a major has a right to live whatever she wants to as is permissible,” the court observed in its verdict.