Constitutional, not personal, morality must guide courts

In the bail order in a case of rape based on false marriage promises, a single-judge bench of Allahabad high court (HC) made an appeal to "save the moral values in the society".

- Seema Sindhu

In the bail order in a case of rape based on false marriage promises, a single-judge bench of Allahabad high court (HC) made an appeal to "save the moral values in the society". The man had been in a live-in relationship with a woman who later lodged an FIR under different sections of IPC and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Granting bail to the accused, Justice Nalin Kumar Srivastava remarked, "So far as live-in relationship is concerned, it has got no social sanction but since the youth is attracted to such relations because a young person, male or female, can easily escape from his/her liability to his/her partner, their attraction is rapidly increasing in favour of such relations. It is high time when we all should think over it and try to find out some framework and solution to save the moral values in the society".

A few months ago, Justice Vikram Nath dismissed a special leave petition on divorce with a one-liner: "Divorce doesn't give happiness".