Ban live-in relationships which treat women like concubines, says Rajasthan Human Rights Commission

• Human Rights Commission of Rajasthan is seeking to ban living-in relation in the state and around the country because they think women have concubine-like-life.
  
• The commission wants to protect women by imposing laws that ban living in relationship
  
• The bench said women have to sacrifice their dignity to be in a living-in relationship.
  

Human Rights Commission of Rajasthan is seeking to ban living-in relation in the state and around the country. It believes that these relationships provide women with concubine-like life and have to sacrifice their dignity.

"Keeping a woman as a concubine is against her dignity because this word tantamount to character assassination," said the bench.

In concubinage, a man lives-in with another woman without marriage. Back in the day, married men too preferred these relationships which did not long-term commitment.

The Human Rights commission bench which included Justices Prakash Tatia and Mahesh Chand Sharma, said that women in these relationships are treated "like concubines". They are also deprived of basic fundamental rights under Article 21.

The bench referred to the Right to Life in Article 21 of the constitution that states “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.”

Human Rights Commission of Rajasthan wrote a letter to the state government to enact a law and wants the Central Government to follow it. "It is imperative to stop the practice of live-in relationships, and it is the responsibility of the state and Central government to prohibit it."

The bench quoted an example of a married man who lives in with another woman primarily for sexual purposes.

Right to live in

However, a lot of young Indians prefer to live together which does not require an elaborate ceremonies or long-term commitment. It has been legally accepted as well. The Supreme Court of India recognised these relationships and provides women with the same provisions as married women under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.

The apex court also came up with a law to protect children are born from such relationships.