"It concerns life and liberty:" Supreme Court orders protection to couple in live-in relationship after Punjab & Haryana High Court denied relief

The Supreme Court of India has ordered police to grant protection to a couple in live-in relationship who were denied relief by the Punjab & Haryana High Court (Gurwinder Singh v. State of Punjab). .A Division Bench comprising Justices Navin Sinha and Justice Ajay Rastogi on June 4 directed that since the issue is one affecting life and liberty, police should act expeditiously in view of the threats faced by the couple. "Needless to state that since it concerns life and liberty, the Superintendent of Police is required to act expeditiously in accordance with law, including the grant of any protection to the petitioners in view of the apprehensions/ threats, uninfluenced by the observations of the High Court," the Court ordered. The couple had initially given a representation to the Superintendent of Police (SP), which was not considered..Live-in relationship morally and socially not acceptable: Punjab and Haryana High Court refuses to grant protection to couple.They had then approached the Punjab & Haryana High Court which refused to entertain the petition stating live-in relationships are not morally and socially acceptable. "As a matter of fact, the petitioners in the garb of filing the present petition are seeking seal of approval on their live-in-relationship, which is morally and socially not acceptable and no protection order in the petition can be passed," a single-judge Bench of Justice HS Madaan had said.The couple then moved the Supreme Court which granted liberty to the petitioners to supplement their representation to the SP while directing the Police to take appropriate steps on such representation. "We have gone through the representation(s). We dispose of both the petitions granting liberty to the petitioners to supplement their representations to the Superintendent of Police," the top court stated. .Conflicting orders have come from Punjab & Haryana High Court in the last few weeks on the aspect of grant of relief to couples in live-in relationship. Eventually, the question was referred to a larger Bench for answering the issue. .[Read Supreme Court Order]