To my mind the criteria laid down by the Apex Court aim at discouraging relationships of a transient kind!

The guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court are indeed rational and will discourage unsrupulous persons from misusing the live-in rights!

also the points put forth by Gulshan are indeed thought provoking!

[quote]However, there may be a dispute about actual status of a woman. The husband may say that the woman is just his 'keep' whereas the woman may claim to be living as full fledged wife. This will be a tricky matter. So, it will be better to define the relation more precisely. I suggest that if a woman has lived with a man for minimum continuous period of five years, she should be recognized as wife for all purposes. [/quote]

You do have a point Gulshan, it will be indeed a tricky matter! BUt I think in cases of any dispute, the period of actually living together should not be the sole criteria for recognizing the relationship, it could be situation based and should be anywhere from between one year and more!

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:
[quote]The guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court are indeed rational and will discourage unsrupulous persons from misusing the live-in rights!

also the points put forth by Gulshan are indeed thought provoking!

[quote]However, there may be a dispute about actual status of a woman. The husband may say that the woman is just his 'keep' whereas the woman may claim to be living as full fledged wife. This will be a tricky matter. So, it will be better to define the relation more precisely. I suggest that if a woman has lived with a man for minimum continuous period of five years, she should be recognized as wife for all purposes. [/quote]

You do have a point Gulshan, it will be indeed a tricky matter! BUt I think in cases of any dispute, the period of actually living together should not be the sole criteria for recognizing the relationship, it could be situation based and should be anywhere from between one year and more![/quote]

I just gave some suggestions which may be improved further. The idea is to ensure that there are well defined guidelines to decide as to what constitutes 'relation in the nature of marriage'.