Court cannot pontificate on matters relating to morality, a Division Bench of the High Court said.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court recently observed that no law prohibits an adult woman from cohabiting with a man who is already married.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Pradeep Mittal further clarified that if such a woman enters into marriage with the man, only his first wife would have the right to initiate proceedings against them for bigamy.
The case arose from a Habeas Corpus petition seeking custody of a woman above 18 years of age, with allegations that she had eloped with a married man instead of residing with her parents.
The State counsel informed the Court that the man she chose to live with had separated from his first wife and was intending to obtain a divorce.
In its August 18 ruling, the Court held that the woman, being an adult, has the autonomy to decide—rightly or wrongly—whom she wishes to live with.
“As regards the person with whom she wants to live being married, there is no law that prevents her from living along with the said person,” the Court added.
The Court further observed that it was not its role to pass judgments on questions of morality and accordingly directed the police to release the woman.
“This Court cannot pontificate on matters relating to morality and once having observed that the Corpus ‘X’ has a right to stay with whom she wants to stay with and as she has declined to stay with her parents, the police (Shri Manish Tripathi, D.S.P., Gotegaon, District Narsinghpur) is requested to release the Corpus ‘X’ after taking an undertaking from her that she is going to live with the person of her choice and also take an endorsement from the person with whom she is living that he has accepted the company of the Corpus,” it ordered.