While hearing a writ petition of couple Sneha Devi and Mohd Shadab Khan under Article 21 (protection of life and personal liberty), the two-judge bench in Lucknow’s Allahabad High Court has declared, that married Muslims cannot claim their rights under live-in relationship citing it as against Islamic values on Wednesday.
Especially if the spouse is still alive. However, the presiding judges, Justices AR Masoodi and AK Srivastava also agreed, that the position might have been different if both of them were single. And the “parties being major chose to lead their lives in a way of their own”.
Further, the court also declined to pass an order on protection of Life and liberty.
Meanwhile, the couple Sneha Devi and Mohd Shadab Khan approached the court, seeking protection from the police following the complaint filed by woman’s family.
The petitioners sought protection under Article 21 (protection of life and personal liberty) claiming that as adults, they are free to stay together in live-in relationship setup as cited by the directions laid by Supreme court.
But upon further enquiry by the bench, it was learnt that khan is already married since 2020 with a wife and a kid.
This where the court made their observation and said “Islamic tenets do not permit live-in relationships during an existing marriage. The position may be different if the two people are unmarried and the parties being majors chose to lead their lives in a way of their own.” said the court.
Later, emphasizing constitutional morality, the court stated that in a different case, such a couple might have been rescued by constitutional morality. However, the matter before us is different.
“The constitutional morality may come to the rescue of such a couple and the social morality settled through the customs and usages over ages may give way to constitutional morality and protection under Article 21 of the Constitution of India may step in to protect the cause. The case before us is, however, different” it said.
Thus, concluding their observations, they declared that it won’t lend such support to such a right.
“The constitutional protection under Article 21 of the Constitution of India would not lend un-canalized support to such a right, because the usages and customs prohibit such a relationship between two individuals of different faiths.”
