Our country sadly hates love. PDA, same-sex love or love before ‘marriage’… we find every reason to make our lives miserable in this country. Ever been out with your special someone and got met with stares like you had stolen something?
1. Checking into a hotel room together.
If you ever checked into a hotel room with your partner without tying a knot, there are chances that you must have received a number of ‘looks’ from people around you. While numerous hotels don’t welcome unmarried couples, no law in the country prohibits unmarried couples from checking into a hotel together. According to a report, it is not a criminal offence if an unmarried couple stays in a hotel room together.
2. Living-in together outside wedlock.
Indian society has never accepted live-in and probably never will. While the Supreme Court has declared live-in relationships to be legal, our society still considers living with your partner outside wedlock as a crime. According to the Constitution of India, live-in relationships are permissible and that the act of two adults living together, in any case, cannot be considered illegal or unlawful.
3. Public display of affection.
There’s no doubt that PDA is considered unacceptable in our country. Remember how an unmarried couple was harassed, thrashed and kicked out of the train because they were hugging each other? That’s how our society is. While Section 294 of IPC states that a person can be punished for doing obscene acts or using obscene words in public, authorities often misuse it to harass innocent unmarried couples.
4. Consensual sex in private places.
Being the land of the kamasutra, sex is still considered taboo in our country. Even though it’s a natural process, people are hesitant to talk about it like it’s a contagious disease. During our entire adulthood, we have heard our parents and relatives saying that it’s an offence to have sex before marriage. However, that’s not true. According to Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, one cannot harass unmarried couples for engaging in consensual sex at private places.
5. Children being born out of live-in relationships.
Children born to live-in partners are often considered illegitimate and are labelled with nasty innuendos. However, if a man and woman are living under the same roof and cohabiting for some years, there will be a presumption under Section 114 of the Evidence Act that they live as husband and wife and the children born to them will not be illegitimate, according to the Supreme Court.
6. Simply sitting in a public place.
Let’s be honest, this has happened with all of us at least once. Whether you are sitting with your best friend, partner or siblings from the opposite gender, people have given you those ‘looks’. Remember how some activists thrashed and humiliated numerous young unmarried couples on Valentine’s Day back in the day? Well, there’s no such law that states that it’s illegal to sit with your partner in a public place.
7. Travelling together.
Although it’s completely legal to travel and stay with your partner, unmarried couples are often harassed when they travel together in our country. From choosing the right hotel to keeping the right amount of distance in public places, there are quite a few things that unmarried couples still have to consider while travelling together.
8. Buying an asset together.
Whether it’s a house or a car, unmarried couples have to go through heaps of questions while buying an asset together. Are you sure? Who is paying for it? What if you guys break up? There are a gazillion unnecessary questions that unmarried couples are asked when they are investing their own frickin’ money into something with their partner.