Answer By law4u team
Under Indian law, live-in partners are legally entitled to file criminal complaints against each other if a cognizable or non-cognizable offense has been committed by one partner against the other. The legal framework in India does not grant total immunity from criminal prosecution simply because two individuals are cohabiting without a formal marriage. However, the nature of the relationship, the specific allegations, and the applicable statutory provisions determine how the police and the courts will entertain such complaints. When a live-in partner wishes to initiate criminal proceedings, they can approach the local police station to file a First Information Report (FIR) under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) if the alleged act constitutes a cognizable offense under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) or any other special statute. If the police refuse to register the FIR, the aggrieved partner has the remedy under the BNSS to approach the jurisdictional Magistrate with a criminal complaint seeking a court-ordered police investigation or direct cognizance. Regarding specific offenses, a live-in partner can certainly invoke provisions of the BNS for general crimes such as physical assault, causing hurt, criminal intimidation, cheating, breach of trust, or defamation. For instance, if one partner physically harms the other, provisions relating to hurt and grievous hurt under the BNS apply identically whether the parties are married or in a live-in arrangement. Similarly, financial fraud, misappropriation of property, or cheating committed by one partner against the other during cohabitation can form the basis of a valid criminal complaint under the relevant sections of the BNS. A critical area of law concerning live-in relationships involves allegations of sexual assault or rape. The Supreme Court and various High Courts in India have repeatedly held that a long-term consensual live-in relationship does not automatically mean that every sexual act within it is consensual. If a partner obtained consent for physical relations through a false promise of marriage from the very beginning, a criminal complaint for rape under the BNS can be legally maintained. Conversely, the courts have also established that if two adults enter into a consensual relationship that later breaks down due to emotional incompatibility or a normal parting of ways, criminal proceedings cannot be weaponized simply because the marriage did not materialize, as a mere breach of a promise of marriage that was not false from the inception does not constitute rape. Another significant legal recourse available to live-in partners, particularly women, is found under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (DV Act). Section 2(f) of the DV Act explicitly recognizes a relationship in the nature of marriage, commonly known as a live-in relationship, provided it meets certain judicial criteria such as a reasonable period of cohabitation, holding out to society as spouses, and sharing a household. Consequently, a female live-in partner can file a comprehensive complaint before the Magistrate seeking relief against domestic violence, which encompasses physical, emotional, sexual, verbal, and economic abuse. Under the DV Act, she can seek protection orders, residence orders, monetary relief, and compensation without necessarily filing a traditional police FIR first, though criminal enforcement of Magistrate orders under the DV Act remains robust. Furthermore, if a live-in relationship results in the birth of a child, both partners owe maintenance obligations, and criminal complaints for maintenance can be pursued under Section 144 of the BNSS, which corresponds to the older Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) Section 125, depending on the personal laws and proof of paternity. Children born out of live-in relationships have recognized rights to maintenance and inheritance under Indian jurisprudence, and failure by a partner to maintain a dependent child or partner where statutory obligations apply can lead to criminal penal consequences. In summary, live-in partners do not operate in a legal vacuum. While the law respects personal autonomy and consensual adult cohabitation, any transgression crossing into the territory of statutory wrongs, physical violence, fraud, or sexual exploitation under the BNS, BNSS, and the DV Act permits either partner to knock on the doors of the criminal justice system. The courts examine the factual matrix of each case to distinguish between genuine criminal offenses and the ordinary fallout of a failed personal relationship.
