Uttarakhand High Court
5Th June vs State Of Uttarakhand & Others on 5 June, 2025
2025:UHC:4561-DB
IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND
AT NAINITAL
HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE SRI G. NARENDAR
AND
HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE ALOK MAHRA
WRIT PETITION (CRL) NO. 563 OF 2025
05TH JUNE, 2025
Prabha Mehara & another .....Petitioners.
Versus
State of Uttarakhand & others ....Respondents.
Counsel for the Petitioners : Mr. Basant Singh, learned
counsel.
Counsel for the State : Mr. J.S. Virk, learned Deputy
Advocate with Mr. R.K. Joshi,
learned Brief Holder.
The Court made the following:
JUDGMENT:
(per Hon'ble The Chief Justice Sri G. Narendar)
Heard learned counsel for the petitioners, and
learned Deputy Advocate General for the State of
Uttarakhand.
2. The facts, in brief, are that the petitioners are in a
live-in-relationship and the said live-in-relationship is being
opposed by the private respondents, which include the family
members and a neighbour. The first petitioner was already
married with one Kuldeep Singh in the year 2015 and out of
the marriage, has two children, namely, Harmandeep Singh,
aged 10 years and Amrit Singh, aged 07 years; that in the
course of marriage, misunderstandings crept in and leading to
physical assault etc.; that the husband is taking advantage of
the poor financial condition of petitioner no.1 and her parents
2025:UHC:4561-DB
and was ill-treating her; that petitioner no.2 was married and
was living separately and the second petitioner, who used to
visit the house of petitioner no.1 to give tuitions, developed a
strong acquaintance and went out of the way to extend
financial help. The wife of petitioner no.2 coming to know
about the same and picked up a fight resulting in the
relationship souring and ultimately the wife of petitioner no.2
left him along with the child; that presently, petitioner no.2 is
working in a school at Kichha, Udham Singh Nagar, and on
account of the supervening circumstances, petitioner no.1 has
applied for divorce and on account of the threat to life and
limb of petitioner no.1, she has moved out of the matrimonial
house and is now living with petitioner no.2; that the
petitioners are live-in couple, and; that there is serious
apprehension of violence being inflicted on the petitioners by
the relatives and friends of the husband of petitioner no.1.
3. In that view, they are before this Court praying for
protection. The fact remains that parties are married. It is not
in dispute that under the Uniform Civil Code, there is no bar
against the married spouse getting involved in a live-in-
relationship. The pleadings disclose that the father-in-law of
petitioner no.1 is undergoing incarceration in a murder case.
2025:UHC:4561-DB
4. Keeping in view the above circumstances and in the
light of the law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in
the case of Lata Singh v. State of U.P. and another,
(2006) 5 SCC 475, the petitioners have made out a case for
grant of protection.
5. Accordingly, the writ petition is allowed in-part. The
Station House Officer, Police Station Rudrapur, District
Udham Singh Nagar is directed to assess the threat, if any, to
the life and limb of the petitioners, and provide necessary
protection, if it is found that there is a threat to the life and
limb of the petitioners, so long they are residing within his
jurisdiction.
6. The Writ Petition stands ordered accordingly.
7. Pending application, if any, also stands disposed of.
(G. NARENDAR, C.J.)
(ALOK MAHRA, J.)
Dated: 05th June, 2025
NISHANT
NISHANT
DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND,
2.5.4.20=ad3fcb5ca64340f5dd0a4c574afa0fd6
3133605ca57cdc00ec2b7462b452b326,
KUMAR
postalCode=263001, st=UTTARAKHAND,
serialNumber=7E81318F3B1BE7EAAC9370185
F7C9C20892BC63A055CFD1961690560487E67
0C, cn=NISHANT KUMAR
Date: 2025.06.09 10:39:32 +05'30'
