Uttarakhand HC Grants Protection To Inter-Faith Live-In Couple With Condition To Register Under State's UCC Law In 48 Hours

On Thursday, the Uttarakhand High Court granted protection to an inter-religious couple living in a live-in relationship, stipulating that they must register their relationship under the Uniform Civil Code, Uttarakhand, 2024, within 48 hours.

It may be noted here that, as per Section 378 of the 2024 Law, persons in live-in relationships (being Uttarakhand residents) are now required to register before a Registrar within one month of "entering into the relationship.” Failure to do so may result in a jail sentence, fine, or both.

Hearing the protection plea filed by a 26-year-old Hindu girl and her 21-year-old Muslim live-in partner, a Bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari and Justice Pankaj Purohit directed thus:

"...we dispose of the writ petition by providing that if petitioners apply for registration under the aforesaid Act within 48 hours, the SHO, PS Dalanwala, Dehradun shall provide adequate protection to petitioners for a period of six weeks to ensure that no harm is caused to them from the private respondents or any other person acting on their behest."

In their protection plea, the petitioners had claimed that they are residing together in a live-in relationship, due to which the parents and brother of the Girl are extending threats to them.

Appearing on behalf of the state government, Deputy Advocate General J.S. Virk submitted before the Court that under the provisions of the 2024 Act, partners in a live-in relationship must register their relationship with the appropriate Registrar. In this case, the petitioners had not complied with this requirement as stipulated by the 2024 Act.

For context, Section 378 of the 2024 is reproduced below:

“378. Submission of statement by partners to a live-in relationship— (1) It shall be obligatory for partners to a live-in relationship within the State, whether they are residents of Uttarakhand or not, to submit a statement of live-in relationship under sub-section (1) of section 381 to the Registrar within whose jurisdiction they are so living.”

In reply to this submission of the Deputy Advocate General, the Counsel for the petitioners submitted that the petitioners would be applying under the relevant provisions of The Uniform Civil Code, Uttarakhand, 2024.

Consequently, noting that the petitioners apprehend threat perception to their life and liberty, the division bench, while considering the law declared by Supreme Court in Lata Singh v. State of U.P. & Anr., disposed of the writ petition by directing the SHO to provide adequate protection to the petitioners for 6 weeks, providing that the petitioners apply for registration under the aforesaid Act within 48 hours.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (UTT) 17