- By Surarika Das
- Sat, 28 Mar 2026 02:18 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
The Allahabad High Court has dramatically changed its stance after stating that two consenting adults may cohabit together even if one is married. However, the court then observed that a married man staying in a live-in relationship with a woman will be permitted only after he gets a divorce.
On March 25, a division bench of Justice JJ Munir and Justice Tarun Saxena was hearing a plea seeking protection of a live-in couple facing threats from the woman's family, according to a Bar and Bench report.
"There is no offence of the kind where a married man, staying with an adult in a live-in relationship, by consent of the other person, can be prosecuted for any offence, whatsoever," law portal Bar and Bench quoted the court as saying.
The High Court also said that the decision has been taken keeping morality and law at separate ends. It stated that the court's action will not be guided by morality but will be purely based on law.
The aforementioned observation, that a married man's live-in relationship is not an offence, was reportedly contradicting its own statements made by a single judge on March 20 while denying protection to a live-in couple.
On March 20, the Allahabad High Court had said that a married individual cannot legally be permitted to get into a live-in relationship with a third person without first obtaining a divorce from his/her spouse, LiveLaw said.
“If the petitioners are already married and have their spouse alive, he/she cannot be legally permitted to enter into a live-in relationship with a third person without seeking divorce from the earlier spouse. He/she first has to obtain the decree of divorce from the court of competent jurisdiction before solemnising marriage or entering into living in a relationship out of their legal marriage,” the Allahabad HC had observed, the X post read.
A similar observation was made by the court in December 2025, wherein it said that a married person cannot legally enter into a live-in relationship with a third party without first obtaining a decree of divorce.
In the case, the petitioners had approached the court with a prayer that both petitioners are major and living together as husband and wife and they have apprehension of a life threat from the respondent, the PTI news agency reported.
Highlighting the previous rulings, Justice Vivek Kumar Singh stated that the freedom of personal liberty is not absolute and cannot infringe upon the statutory rights of an existing spouse.
A spouse has the statutory right to enjoy the company of his or her counterpart and he/she cannot be deprived of that right for the sake of personal liberty, and no such protection can be granted to infringe on the statutory right of the other spouse, the court said, adding, hence, the freedom of one person cannot encroach on or outweigh the legal right of another person.
"If the petitioners are already married and have their spouse alive, he/she cannot be legally permitted to enter into a live-in relationship with a third person without seeking divorce from the earlier spouse," the court had stated.