The Rajasthan high court recently passed an order terming the live-in relationship between a man and a married woman as "illicit".

In the order issued on August 12, the single-judge bench of Justice Satish Kumar Sharma also denied the petitioners' request for police protection, who had said she was a victim of domestic violence after which she left her husband's house.

The plea was filed by a 30-year-old married woman and a 27-year-old man from the Jhunjhunu district. During the hearing, the counsel for the petitioners submitted that both the petitioners are adults and are consensually in a live-in relationship.

The petition said the woman was married but has been living separately because of physical abuse by her husband.

"It is clear from examining all the documents of both sides that petitioner number 1 is already married. She has not got a divorce but despite that, she is staying with petitioner number 2 in a live-in relationship. In such a scenario, the live-in relationship between the two comes under the category of an illicit relationship," says the order by the court.

While passing the order, Justice Sharma also cited a recent order of the Allahabad high court, wherein it had rejected the request for police protection in a similar case.