Love is a beautiful feeling that brings two people together. To explore that love, coupes need to spend more time with each other. Here comes, marriage or live-in relationships.
Marriage is legal and socially accepted. However, live-in relationships are the latest on-going trends among the youth that gives them the liberty to live with their partner without any pressure or stress of marriage.
Due to the change in dynamics of the relationship, live-in relationships are exponentially rising in India as compared to the last few decades. Until the previous generation, the only route to seek out companionship, in the long run, was marriage.
In India, live-in relationships are still regarded beyond the pale. In a country where parents sometimes murder even their children for marrying out of the caste, many brave couples lived together without getting married. But doing so they do face social opprobrium and many legal hurdles.
In Indian society living with someone before marriage is still considered as a taboo. It corresponds to the idea of virginity especially in case of women, which is considered violated as she then becomes "impure" or "unholy", which is a traditional thought but is widely accepted.
What the conservative side of the society has to say might not affect the youth, they feel live-in relationships gives them freedom, living life without the restrictions posed by the institution of marriage.
In a live-in relation, if a person feels that things are not working out and this is not what they want in the future, that person can easily walk off anytime from the relationship.
But this doesn’t happen in the case of marriage, marriages can take a toll, as they are meant to be together for a lifetime and also the legal things that involve in a marriage makes it difficult and time-consuming process to seek divorce.
Subconsciously, the idea that ‘marriages are made in heaven’ is fixed in the minds of people and knowingly or unknowingly couples try hard to make their marriage last long and we have to agree to the point that marriages are a more stable form of a relationship.
Live-in can be too liberating at times and there are high chances of instability and insecurity.
Why Is Society Against This?
1. The Idea of Living Together -
Marriage or live-in relationship is a big decision of a person’s life and it should be their choice and should be free from societal pressures. One may believe in the idea of pure marriage but one should also be not criticized for their decision to be in a live-in relationship or not.
Indian society doesn’t accept and respect the individuality and choices of a person. The recent example can be seen when a player of Indian Cricket Team announced early pregnancy of his fiancé when the post was out on Instagram, people started trolling and harassing him.
From an early age, it is spoon-fed to a person that it is essential to living according to what others say rather than living a life of your own choices.
2. Dealing With Family -
Parents see marriage as commitment while live-ins as abstinence from responsibility. Despite having live-in relationships being prevailed, parents still prefer to live in denial.
Just like our parent must protect us from the big bad world, it is the responsibility of the child to open up new worlds for the parents, like educating them about the freedom to act upon your convictions.
But most importantly children have to show their parents that they are strong, responsible and independent.
Law of Live-in Relationship
It is not illegal in India to live in a live-in relationship. But if one partner is married and another not and then entered into it unknowingly, it is a punishable offence. There is no law which states adultery, homosexuality and under-age person.
If a child is born out of a live-in relationship, it will be considered legal and would be entitled to the financial resources of both the parents. The couples, however, cannot adopt in a live-in relationship.
If the live-in relationship is counted legal by the judiciary, then it must be seen with the utmost respect by the people also. The definition of live-in relationships should not be according to the perception of the society but by the individual itself.
The things which are needed to make any relationship successful are respect, trust, love, loyalty and compatibility which weighs more than any unnecessary judgment of people to be taken into account.
Written by - Harshita Negi
Edited by - Ivanova
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