Cruelty to Woman -- Live-in Relationship With Intent to Marry -- Section 498A Applicable
(i) Indian Penal Code, 1860, S.498A -- Cruelty to Woman -- Live-in Relationship With Intent to Marry -- Protection under Section 498A extends beyond legally valid marriages to a live-in relationship bearing the attributes of marriage, between consenting adults, where intent to marry is established as an intrinsic part of the relationship. Denial of such protection solely on the ground of absence of formal marriage has no rational nexus with the object of preventing domestic cruelty. (ii) Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, S.31 -- Cruelty to Woman -- Civil Remedy Under Domestic Violence Act -- The Domestic Violence Act provides essentially civil remedies, with penal consequence confined to violation of a protection order. It cannot be treated as a substitute for the penal protection available under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 to a woman in a relationship in the nature of marriage.
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