The Madhya Pradesh High Court ruled that an adult woman has the right to live with a married man if she chooses. The Bench said, “This Court cannot pontificate on matters relating to morality.”
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has recently ruled that there is no law in India which stops an adult woman from living with a man who is already married.
A Division Bench of Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Pradeep Mittal made this observation while hearing a habeas corpus petition that was filed to seek custody of a woman above 18 years of age.
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It was alleged that the woman had eloped with a man who was already married, and instead, she should have been living with her parents.
During the hearing, the State’s counsel submitted that the man with whom the woman wanted to live had already separated from his first wife and was planning to get a divorce.
While giving its decision on August 18, the Court made it clear that since the woman is an adult, she has the full right to decide where and with whom she wants to live. The Court stated,
“As regards the person with whom she wants to live being married, there is no law that prevents her from living along with the said person.”
The judges also clarified that even if the woman marries the man who is already married, the law allows only the first wife of the man to file a complaint for the offence of bigamy. No one else, including her parents or the State, can prosecute them on this ground.
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Emphasising individual freedom, the Court further said that it was not for the judiciary to pass moral judgments on such issues.
The Bench observed,
“This Court cannot pontificate on matters relating to morality and once having observed that the Corpus ‘X’ has a right to stay with whom she wants to stay with and as she has declined to stay with her parents, the police (Shri Manish Tripathi, D.S.P., Gotegaon, District Narsinghpur) is requested to release the Corpus ‘X’ after taking an undertaking from her that she is going to live with the person of her choice and also take an endorsement from the person with whom she is living that he has accepted the company of the Corpus.”
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The Court’s direction meant that the police had to release the woman immediately after recording her statement and securing an undertaking.
The woman’s side was represented by Advocate Aayush Sharma, while Deputy Advocate General Abhijeet Awasthi appeared for the State.
Case Title:
NLM vs The State of Madhya Pradesh and Others
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