Indian cohabiting couples slam new state law requiring ‘inquiry’, fear abuse by nosy neighbours

Naveed Mehmood Ahmad, a resident fellow at think tank Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, said live-in relationships had been slowly recognised by the law in recent years to some extent but the latest proposal was problematic in that the state was interfering with what was essentially a private choice. “The whole point of a live-in relationship is that it’s not as rigid as marriage which needs registration, et cetera. The need for a law to regulate this by the state does not seem to have any valid rationale. Also, the move to criminalise this if there is a delay or failure in registration is problematic, as criminal law is invoked for concerns of national security or public order, which is not applicable here.” This article was published in South China Morning Post on February 16, 2024.