“‘Such relationships fail quickly’”: High Court’s live-in ruling revokes life term

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): The Allahabad High Court, hearing an appeal related to Maharajganj, made a serious observation in its decision. The court stated that under the influence of Western ideas and the concept of live-in relationships, the trend of young people living together without marriage is rapidly increasing. When such relationships fail, FIRs are often filed, and because the law favors women, men are convicted under sections enacted when the concept of live-in relationships did not exist.

Based on this reasoning, the High Court, by a bench comprising Justices Siddharth and Prashant Mishra, set aside the life sentence awarded to the appellant by the trial court.

This entire case dates back to 2021. The Maharajganj POCSO court delivered its verdict in March 2024. The court convicted Chandresh under the IPC, POCSO, and SC/ST Acts, sentencing him to seven years to life imprisonment in various cases. In April 2024, Chandresh challenged this decision in the Allahabad High Court.

The allegation was that Chandresh lured a minor girl to Bengaluru on the pretext of marriage and had physical relations with her. The minor girl returned home on August 6, 2021, and stated that Chandresh had promised to marry her but later did not. The girl's father claimed that his daughter was a minor and that her date of birth was March 1, 2003, according to her Aadhaar card.