Surbhi Yadav, Advocate, Panjab and Haryana High Court
ABSTRACT:
With the advent of modernization and westernization in Indian culture, the existing social structure of the society tends to change. Institutions, which are the organized ways of doing things and considered to be the backbone of civilized society, have undergone a change. The institution of marriage is one of the oldest social institutions under which cohabitation and intercourse between two heterosexual beings are socially acceptable and one of the legitimate ways for the procreation of children. The institution of marriage loses its rigidity over the said definition by giving space to the notion of live- in relationships and to a new wave of homosexual marriages. In the recent judgment, the court observed that public morality cannot overshadow constitutional morality. Marriage is considered to be a sacramental tie. On the other side, live-in relationships are the testing relationships emerging through the concept of walk-in and walk-out. This paper attempts to look at the recent judicial pronouncement in comparison with and from the historical perspective of marriage and relationships.
