The Uttarakhand High Court has revoked a directive issued on July 18 that required an interfaith couple in a live-in relationship to register their relationship under the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) of Uttarakhand.
The Court had granted police protection to the interfaith couple in the July 18 order, provided that they register their relationship under the UCC, 2024 within 48 hours.
Nevertheless, the Division Bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari and Justice Pankaj Purohit modified its order on July 29 after being informed that the Uniform Civil Code of Uttarakhand had not yet been implemented.
The State counsel informed the Court that the UCC has received Presidential assent; however, the State has not yet notified the Code. Given this, the Court has rescinded its previous directive to the interfaith, live-in couple to register for UCC.
The Court stated in its July 29 order that paragraphs 3, 4, and 5 of the final order dated 18.07.2024, which are founded on the submission made by the learned State Counsel, are scored off.
In their petition to the Court, the couple (petitioners) claimed that they were being threatened by the girl’s parents and brother and requested protection.
The counsel for the State informed the Bench during an earlier hearing of the matter that the UCC in Uttarakhand mandates that partners in a live-in relationship register with the appropriate registrar.
He emphasized that the couple had failed to fulfill the aforementioned requirement.
The petitioners’ attorney subsequently stated that they would submit an application for registration in accordance with the pertinent provisions of the Uniform Civil Code.
Section 378 of the Uniform Civil Code, Uttarakhand, 2024, is particularly noteworthy in that it pertains to the submittal of a statement by partners in a live-in relationship. It specifies:
“(1) It shall be obligatory for partners to a live-in relationship within the State, whether they are residents of Uttarakhand or not, to submit a statement of live-in relationship under sub-section (1) of section 381 to the Registrar within whose jurisdiction they are so living.”
Consequently, on July 18, the Court directed the couple to register their relationship under the UCC and ordered that they be granted police protection.
Nevertheless, this condition has been eliminated as of the present, as the UCC has not yet been implemented.
The petitioners were represented by Advocate Mohd Matlub.
The State was represented by Advocate General JS Virk and Advocate RK Joshi.
