The Supreme Court’s Section 498A live-in relationship ruling in Dr. Lokesh B.H. & Ors. v. State of Karnataka & Anr., decided on 3 August 2026, does not place every live-in arrangement within the criminal cruelty provision. The Court held that Section 498A IPC may apply where the relationship is genuinely “in the nature of marriage” and the intention to marry is established. Its application therefore remains dependent on the facts and evidence of each case.
The decision recognises that the absence of a formally valid marriage may not, by itself, remove the protection of Section 498A where the parties lived in a relationship resembling marriage. The availability of civil remedies under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, also does not automatically exclude criminal proceedings when the statutory requirements are otherwise satisfied.
However, cohabitation alone is insufficient. The nature and duration of the relationship, how the parties represented themselves, their intention concerning marriage and the alleged acts of cruelty must be examined. An accusation is not proof, and the ingredients of the offence must still be established against each accused. Review the case record: 2026 INSC 784.
The judgment concerned Section 498A of the former Indian Penal Code. For conduct governed by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, cruelty by a husband or his relatives is addressed by Sections 85 and 86. The applicable provision depends on the dates, allegations and transitional law; the ruling should not be presented as declaring that Section 85 automatically covers every live-in relationship. See the official BNS text.
S&S Law Associates handles matrimonial disputes, domestic-cruelty allegations, criminal defence and proceedings involving relationship-related rights.
