Sunita Devi and Another v. State of U.P. and 3 Others
Case brief
What is this about?
Woman legally married to respondent no. 4 sought protection of law to live with petitioner no. 2 of her own choice during subsistence of marriage, alleging harassment by husband; Court held she cannot be said to be free to live with anyone of her own choice during subsistence of a valid marriage; writ petition dismissed. Keywords: live-in relationship, subsistence of valid marriage, protection of law, personal choice, Sunita Devi v. State of U.P., WRIT - C No. 1437 of 2020, order dated 23.1.2020, Bharati Sapru J., Piyush Agrawal J.
What did the court decide?
During the subsistence of a valid marriage, petitioner no. 1 cannot be said to be free to live with anyone of her own choice; her contention that there is no legal impediment to her living with another person was rejected, though it remains open to her to take recourse to whatever remedy she may have to continue her relationship with petitioner no. 2.