Off late, people have been running behind issues that exist in India for a long while. But now the run is different. The chase is for legalizing and institutionalizing every thing with an opinion to keep in pace with the changing world. The issue of legalizing homo-sexual relationships, accepting gay marriages, providing legal status to transgender, streamlining and legalizing prostitution and now the government’s intervention to legalize live-in relationships, and giving the status of "wife" to the woman involved. People who had their own reasons why they could not bind themselves as man and wife in a marriage will now have to think about this new emerging proposal. There are multiple ways of looking at this issue.
Let’s look into the way people who support this proposal assume and otherwise:
A legal status to the relationship, so that in case something happens to the man, the woman in live-in will get a legal status to claim his property etc as a legal heir.
Neither the man nor the woman can escape the binding factors under law once they started to live together for what so ever reasons.
The statement in the proposal of the "Reasonable time" has to be defined. Or else, for few people living once together would become a life time emotion, and how can you define what is a considerable amount of time in such a situation.
This also raises questions on what happens in cases where a married man or a woman is having another relationship under the tag "live-in". Will the first husband or the first wife lose their legal status once the extra-marital affair gets legalized under the live-in law?
The proposal talks about benefiting the urban communities where this change is become inevitable as lot of people are in live-in relationships to the given fact that they cannot bind to the marriage due to work pressure and other commitment factors- Then what is that this new law is going to achieve, when the people involved themselves do not want to have a commitment, that is the very objective of people in live-in relationships why they don't tie the knot?
The proposal also states that the rural woman will be protected as most of the men end up in polygamy where there exists no legal right for the second wife under law. There arises another question- Are you legalizing multiple marriages or multiple wives by giving the second wife a legal status as well under the tag of live-in? In such cases, does the woman also have an equal right to have multiple husbands? This sound absurd and illogical.
Can the man and wife in the live-in also divorce and does the existing law of separation apply to them as well?
When a law is made and an amendment done at a government level, the proposal should consider all aspects of the issue. Above statements are the points showing the weaker side of the proposed law. It is for the government and legal framework to dig deep into the issue with wide statistics that need to be considered before this become a new law in the country. To me this proposal looks like a mixed up requirements with no clarity- Cant help being a business analyst!!
The other side of the coin- For those who talk about Culture and Heritage.
What is culture- Culture is the way in which people live over civilizations in a country. If the current civilization has a changed way of living, accept it. Look at the larger picture of people in the country today. There are no more Rama's nor there are any Draupadi's in the country today. Our culture, our epics and our heritage had references to the live-in relationships. When we could regard Pandavas being born to Kunti for each God, and for the country which believes in Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu's Mohini avatar, and lot many other references, Jesus was blessed to Mother Mary... and lot more, what is that you are contradicting the live-in relationships stating not in our culture. Instead of referring culture as a reason, I would suggest people think from other areas - like this may encourage mutiple partners, throw in more of health hazards and disrupt the sacred Institution of Marriage in its present form which is regarded as the world- best institution. I am not supporting the proposal as is, but definitely would support the emotions of the people who are into such a relationship for what ever known personal reasons. As long as the major questions of this proposal are addressed, the country can vote for the proposal. Unless the clarity is arrived and people do not get caught unaware of the loopholes of the new law, this can go. Otherwise, this will become a well dug deep to bury everyone involved- both emotionally and legally!
This reminds me of a line- "My kids and your kids play with our kids"
How is this concept in rest of the world:
To the western and European world, this concept is not new. But the law becomes a binding factor when there are children out of the live-in relationships. Irrespective of whether the father and mother are married or no, the child get the legal status as a legal heir to both the parents individually. Such parents end up in a contratual obligation for sharing the responsibility of the children even if they decide to part ways later or stay together. If they decide to part without children, then there is no legal binding where the partners can claim alimony or legal rights to the property of the person with whom they lived for a while. I have seen people who got married when they had teenage children and when they thought that their relationships can work for a life time. Government's current proposal should see the proven theories of the world to make it a more practically viable law that can be accepted by the people of the country. Its not like some one wrote some rules fifty years back and we are still bound to follow them..Things are changed a lot in Modern India and this should be reflected in our policies and proposals as well.
A last statement- My Opinion:
This is something personal to people involved. There are thousands of social issues that the government can really look into like providing shelther to homeless, eradicating poverty, providing wide spread employment opportunities, making India a world class tourist destination, protecting people against communal violence and terrorism, making proposals for people's participation in Army and Border security, providing support to military personnel who are risking the lives to protect our Nation and lot many. Instead of diverting our attention to issues that people can handle themselves, it is for the government to concentrate more on the major issues that are common to everyone in this country. If they are really serious of making laws, I would suggest Government looks at making amendements to the existing books of law that were written in pre-independence era - Like Rs 500 fine for a rape accused, 5 years of prisonment for a drunken drive killer and a fine of Rs 100 for person who breaks a law at the fall of a hat! Wake Up India. Wake up for real burning issues that my country is bleeding with...
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