SC sets parameters for live-in maintenance

A long-term live-in relationship between a couple who have lived like spouses in the eyes of society deserves the same legal status as given to a formal marriage, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

Describing live-in relationship as an emerging social phenomenon in “big” urban cities, the court clarified the law to hold that a woman abandoned by her live-in companion is eligible to claim maintenance from him, provided both were single and had lived like spouses in the eyes of society for a substantial period of time.

These observations were passed in a judgment defining the expression “relationships in the nature of marriage” in the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. The statute provides that a woman deserted from such a relationship is equally eligible for maintenance as a woman abandoned by her legally wedded husband.