The Supreme Court has ruled that a man in a live-in relationship can be prosecuted for subjecting a woman to cruelty if the relationship was "in the nature of marriage" and the parties intended to marry.
The verdict presents implications for how India's anti-cruelty law applies beyond formal marriages.
In the case of Lokesh v. State of Karnataka, a bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and N Kotiswar Singh held, that Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code would extend to such relationships even without a legally valid marriage.
According to Bar and Bench, the appeal was filed by Dr Lokesh BH and others against a November 2025 Karnataka High Court judgment that had refused to quash criminal proceedings against them, arising from a complaint by a woman who alleged Lokesh had married her while his first marriage was still subsisting, accusing him and his relatives of dowry harassment, cruelty and attempting to set her on fire.
The court clarified that not every live-in relationship would attract the penal provision, with the initial burden of proving an intent to marry resting on the woman seeking protection.
The bench observed that "this distinction between married and live-in relationship in the nature of marriage...has no rational nexus with the object of preventing domestic violence and is as such offensive to Article 14 of the Constitution," NDTV reported.
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The court also rejected arguments that the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 offered adequate protection, noting it largely provides civil remedies while Section 498A carries criminal liability requiring a higher threshold.
It directed strict compliance with safeguards against arrest laid down in Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar, ordering that no live-in partner or relative accused of cruelty in such a relationship should be arrested without a preliminary inquiry.
Senior Advocate Anand Sanjay M Nuli reportedly appeared for the petitioners, while Additional Solicitors General Brijendra Chahar and Aishwarya Bhati appeared among others for the respondents.
The Karnataka High Court had earlier upheld proceedings against the accused, ruling Section 498A could apply to void or voidable marriages as well as marriage-like live-in relationships, a conclusion the apex court affirmed with the added requirement of proof of intent to marry.
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