A one-night stand or a physical relationship between a man and a woman does not fall under the definition of marriage under Hindu laws, the Bombay High Court said recently in an important order. A child born out of such an encounter may not have any rights over the father's property, if there is no marriage, the Court added. Justice Mridula Bhatkar, however, acknowledged that some countries have widened the scope of marriage to recognise live-in relationships and same-sex marriages. The Court was hearing a plea that had asked it to decide whether a girl child born of a second wife had the right to her father's pension and other benefits. "Broadly, either her customary solemnisation of marriage is required or performance of legal formality is a condition precedent to label that relationship as a marriage...For example, a one-night stand consensual affair cannot be called a marriage. Merely a physical relationship between a man and a woman also cannot be called a marriage. Any physical intimacy / sexual intercourse which took place by choice or by chance or by accident is not a marriage", said Justice Mridula Bhatkar.
The Court pointed to Section. 16 of the Hindu Marriage Act that restricts itself to 'marriage' but recognises that the society is going through changes. "In some countries, homosexual unions are accepted as marriages; so also live-in relationships and children born within such relationships have posed as complicated issues and a challenge to legal thinkers to define the term marriage whether in a wider or narrow meaning", the Judge said.
In the Hindu Marriage Act or the Hindu Succession Act, marriage, even if subsequently declared as void, has to be proved to decide the rights of the child.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment