LIVE-IN RELATIONSHIPS AND LEGAL STATUS IN INDIA

Abstract

The emergence of live-in relationship into the Indian Territory where it has been viewed rather skeptically needs to be reviewed with keen details concerning their legal and social consequences considering the intricate design of Indian legislation (Narayan et al., 2021). This analysis is particularly necessary because of the high-societal values which perceive marriage as not just a relationship between people. It is a holy William that holds families and has a profound impact on the social status and family roles (Jha, 2021)(Bohmer and Schinnenburg, 2020). According to this conservative perception, it is the habitual estrangement of live-in relationship in general as an odd deviation, which forms a complex inherent equilibrium between the individual liberty and ingrained societal regulations. There are no definite regulations on live-in relationships, which contribute to their legal doubtfulness. There are a few cases where a law that exists and was originally meant to address marriage has to be interpreted differently by the courts (Sharma and Vishwakarma, 2020). There is confusion in the law which puts the partners in live-in relationships in a difficult situation on locating rights and obligations concerning property and maintenance, and also inheritance. This state of affairs shows there is a dire need to set the standards through obvious court decisions and law changes. This chapter discusses how the courts are gradually appreciating rights typed as those of the married couples whilst being aware of the restrictions of these comparisons under a legal vacuum. It further examines the cultural conceptualization of the perceptions and acceptance of live-in relationships due to the fact that often these setups would extend to wider contexts of intensive-networks that extend beyond the typical family restructuring (Tokita-Tanabe, 2021). Moreover, it analyses the danger in which people in live-in relationships or women, in particular, are vulnerable to, having no strong safety measures, and contrasts this problem with experiences in transnational marriages (Fresnoza-Flot, 2021) and some of sex work (Nataraj and Majumdar, 2021).