Teesha –
The Rajasthan High Court reiterated that personal life and liberty under Article 21 has to be protected irrespective of the fact that relationship between two major individuals may be termed as immoral and unsocial.
A single Judge Bench comprising Justice Satish Kumar Sharma stated that as per Section 29 of Rajasthan Police Act, 2007 every police officer in the state is duty bound to protect the life and liberty of the citizens.
The observation came in, while dealing with a plea filed by a couple, Ajay Kumar Berwa and Samreen, living in a live-in relationship who sought police protection under the apprehensions of threat from their family members.
The Bench relied on the landmark judgements including Lata Singh V. State of UP AIR 2006 SC 2522 and S. Khushboo V. Kanniamal (2010) 5 SCC 600.
Further, the Court ordered that the petition is disposed as it didn’t express the genuineness or correctness of the allegations, and asked the counsel of the petitioners to submit a copy of the petition along with the annexure to the Station House Officer of the concerned Police Station through Email, and the same would be treated as a complaint on which the officer is directed to ensure safety of the petitioners after the due enquiry.
Recently, the Punjab and Haryana High Court held in a similar case that “A live-in relationship may not be acceptable to all, but it cannot be said that such a relationship is an illegal one or that living together without the sanctity of marriage constitutes an offence.”