[ad_1]
Image for representation only.
| Photo Credit: File
Describing live-in relationships as a “dangerous disease,” a Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament from Haryana demanded that the government should bring in a law against it. The MP, Dharambir Singh, also suggested that the consent of the parents must be made mandatory for love marriages to take place.
Raising the issue during the Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha on December 7, Mr. Singh, who represents Bhiwani-Mahendragarh, said that divorce rates in love marriages were high and that India has long had the tradition of marriages arranged by parents or relatives.
How legal are live-in relationships in India? | In Focus podcast
“Marriage is considered a sacred relationship that continues for seven generations… Divorce rate is about 1.1% in India as compared with America which has a rate of about 40%. It has been observed that the rate of divorce in arranged marriages is very less. However, there is a lot of increase in divorce rate recently and the main reason for it is love marriages,” Mr. Singh noted.
He said that marriages within the same ‘gotra’ (clan) do not occur in large parts of India, and opined that ‘love marriages’ are the root of many conflicts in the villages. “Scores of families are destroyed in these conflicts, therefore the consent of both the families is important,” Mr. Singh added.
Mr. Singh further went on to elaborate on the “new disease” where a man or woman live together sans marriage. “Such relationships are very common in western nations but this evil is fast spreading in our society also, and the consequences are horrible. Recently, the case of Shraddha [Walkar] and Aftab [Poonawala] had come to light in which both were in a live-in relationship,” Mr. Singh said referring to the gruesome murder that took place in Delhi earlier this year.
Also Read | Not a crime if consenting married adults are in a live-in relationship: Delhi High Court
“I request the Minister that a law be made against live-in relationships so that this dangerous disease can be eradicated from society,” he added.
Another issue that came up during the Zero Hour was the ongoing fight between Kerala Governor and the Left Front government over the issue of appointing vice-chancellors in State universities.
Congress MP from Kerala, Kodikunnil Suresh, raising the issue, and said that the tussle has paralysed the higher education sector in the State. He also urged the Centre to intervene.
