NEW DELHI: BJP MP Ajay Pratap Singh on Thursday strongly pushed for a ban on live-in relationships while speaking during Special Mentions in the Rajya Sabha. The MP who belongs to Uttar Pradesh urged the government to enact a law declaring the ‘live-in relationships’ as a means to curbing violence against women in the country.
The MP referred to the murder of Mumbai’s Saraswasti Vaidya allegedly by her live-in partner, saying she was brutally killed and her body parts were boiled in a pressure cooker and thereafter served to dogs.
He cited figures from the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the murders of women, saying that around 38 per cent of all such murders in the world have been found to be done by their intimate partners.
Quoting religious scriptures as well as Indian social traditions, the MP said, “Marriage and family ties in India are considered as a cultural heritage. Our religious scriptures, customs and practices do not recognise the subculture concept of live-in relationships.”
He said the Supreme Court has recognised live-in relationship, but the court has also said that Indian society considered it “unethical but not illegal.” “I believe that if live-in relationship is unethical; then it must be declared illegal too,” he said, urging the House Chair to take it up with the government.
The live-in relationship is based on mutual acceptance between an adult couple in which the two live under the same roof without marrying. In the current century of hyper-self-centred personal life, the live-in relationship is catching up among the youth not only in India but also in Europe, South East Asia, the
US and other developed countries.