Tag Archives: Human Rights

मित्र राष्ट्रों के हिन्दू-सिख समाज की मदद भी करे भारत सरकार

(अमृत पाल सिंघ ‘अमृत’)

मित्रतापूर्ण सम्बन्धों को बढ़ावा देने के लिये हमारी केन्द्रीय सरकार ने साल 2014 से लेकर जनवरी, 2018 के बीच अफ़ग़ानिस्तान को 2,088 करोड़ रुपये और श्रीलंका को 1,025 करोड़ रुपये दिये हैं।

मित्र राष्ट्रों की मदद करना बहुत अच्छी बात है। सरकार के इस क़दम की मैं प्रशंसा करता हूँ।

भारत एक बहुत बड़ा देश है, जो आर्थिक तौर पर बहुत तेज़ी से उभर कर विश्व के सामने आया है। हम दुनिया की पांच बड़ी सेनाओं में से एक हैं। हम सबसे ज़्यादा आबादी वाले मुल्क़ों में से एक हैं। हम विविध संस्कृतियों और भाषाओं वाला देश हैं।

जब भी विश्व में कहीं भी हिन्दू, जैन, सिख सम्प्रदायों की बात होती है, तो भारत का भी ज़िक्र आ जाता है। यह स्वाभाविक है। ऐसा इसलिये है, क्योंकि हमारा यह देश हिन्दू, जैन, सिख सम्प्रदायों की मातृभूमि (homeland) है। हमारे संविधान के सेक्युलर होने के बावजूद हमारे भारत की यह विश्व भर में एक विशेष पहचान है। यह एक तथ्य है। कोई इस तथ्य को नापसन्द तो कर सकता है, लेकिन झुठला नहीं सकता।

हिन्दू, जैन, सिख सम्प्रदायों की मातृभूमि (homeland) होने की वजह से भारत की इन सम्प्रदायों के उन लोगों के प्रति एक विशेष ज़िम्मेदारी भी बनती है, जो कहीं विदेश में अपने सम्प्रदाय की वजह से ज़ुल्म का शिकार बनते हैं। उनको ज़ुल्मों से बचाने के लिये असरदार क़दम उठाना भारत सरकार की नैतिक ज़िम्मेदारी है।

अफ़ग़ानिस्तान में लम्बे समय से चल रहे गृहयुद्ध की वजह से वहाँ के हिन्दू-सिख समाज को बहुत ज़ुल्मों का शिकार होना पड़ा है। हज़ारों अफ़ग़ान हिन्दू-सिख परिवार अफ़ग़ानिस्तान में अपने घरों को छोड़कर विदेशों में जाने के लिये मजबूर हो गये हैं। जैसा कि स्वाभाविक ही है, बहुत सारे अफ़ग़ान हिन्दू-सिख परिवार भारत में भी आये हैं। इनमें बहुत ऐसे हैं, जिनको अभी तक भारतीय नागरिकता नहीं मिल सकी है।

जो बहुत थोड़े-से हिन्दू-सिख अभी भी अफ़ग़ानिस्तान में रह रहे हैं, उनकी हालत बहुत बुरी है।

ख़ानाजंगी का सामना कर रहे अफ़ग़ानिस्तान के पुनर्निर्माण के लिये भारत समेत कई देशों ने बहुत बड़ी आर्थिक मदद दी है। यह एक अच्छी बात है। लेकिन इसका एक पक्ष यह भी है कि अफ़ग़ान लोगों की मदद के लिये दिये जा रहे इस धन का कोई विशेष प्रयोग अफ़ग़ान हिन्दुओं, सिखों पर नहीं किया जा रहा, जबकि यह सबसे छोटा अफ़ग़ान अल्पसंख्यक समुदाय ही सबसे ज़्यादा नफ़रत का शिकार बना है।

हम अमेरिका जैसे मुल्क़ों से तो यह उम्मीद नहीं कर सकते कि अफ़ग़ानिस्तान को आर्थिक मदद देते वक़्त वे अफ़ग़ान हिन्दू-सिख समाज का विशेष तौर पर ध्यान रखें, लेकिन भारत सरकार से तो हमें यह उम्मीद रखनी चाहिये कि अफ़ग़ान हिन्दू-सिख समाज का विशेष तौर पर ध्यान रखा जाये।

भारत सरकार जब अफ़ग़ानिस्तान सरकार को किसी भी प्रकार की मदद दे, तो उसके साथ यह शर्त भी हो कि अफ़ग़ानिस्तान में रह रहे हिन्दुओं-सिखों की सुरक्षा हो। अफ़ग़ानिस्तान सरकार को आर्थिक मदद देते वक़्त उस धन का एक निश्चित हिस्सा अफ़ग़ान हिन्दू-सिख समाज की भलाई पर भी ख़र्च हो। अफ़ग़ानिस्तान सरकार को दी जा रही आर्थिक मदद का एक हिस्सा ज़रूरी तौर पर उन अफ़ग़ान हिन्दुओं-सिखों पर भी ख़र्च हो, जो भारत में रह रहे हैं।

साल 2014 से अब तक जो तक़रीबन 2,088 करोड़ रुपये अफ़ग़ानिस्तान को दिये गये हैं, अगर उसका बीस प्रतिशत भी अफ़ग़ान हिन्दुओं-सिखों पर ख़र्च किया जाता, तो उनकी बड़ी समस्याओं का समाधान किया जा सकता था।

भारत सरकार ने श्रीलंका सरकार को भी 2014 से अब तक 1,025 करोड़ रुपये दिये हैं। अफ़ग़ानिस्तान की तरह श्रीलंका से भी हिन्दू शरणार्थी भारत आये हैं। जो मेरा सुझाव अफ़ग़ानिस्तान के लिये है, वही सुझाव श्रीलंका के लिये भी है। श्रीलंका को दी जाने वाली आर्थिक मदद का एक निश्चित हिस्सा श्रीलंकाई हिन्दुओं पर ख़र्च होना चाहिये। श्रीलंका को दी जाने वाली आर्थिक मदद का एक निश्चित हिस्सा भारत में रह रहे श्रीलंका के हिन्दू शरणार्थियों पर भी ख़र्च होना चाहिए।

म्यांमार से निकाले गये रोहिंग्या लोगों का हमें भी वैसा ही दुःख है, जैसा पश्चिमी देशों की सरकारों को है। लेकिन हमें अफ़ग़ानिस्तान और श्रीलंका से निकाले गये हिन्दुओं का भी दुःख है। पश्चिमी देशों की सरकारों ने तो अरबों डॉलर अफ़ग़ानिस्तान पर ख़र्च करते वक़्त अफ़ग़ान हिन्दुओं, सिखों के बारे में कभी सोचा भी नहीं।

आख़िर ऐसा कब तक चलता रहेगा कि जिन देशों से हिन्दू सिखों को निकलना पड़ रहा है, भारत सरकार अपने करदाताओं की मेहनत की कमाई उन देशों को देती जाये, बिना वहाँ के हिन्दू-सिख समाज की मदद किये?

Now, the Minister Says the 39 Indians Are Dead

(Amrit Pal Singh ‘Amrit’)

It was in June, 2014 that 39 Indians were abducted in Iraq by terrorists belonging to the Islamic State. Since than the External Affairs minister Mrs Sushma Swaraj had been claiming that the abducted Indians are alive, despite an eyewitness saying otherwise.

Harjit Masih, one of the 40 workers who were kidnapped by the Islamic State had claimed that the militants took them on a hillock, lined them up and shot them from the back. He said that he was hit on his leg and fell down feigning death. He later ran to safety.

The unreasonable claim made by our External Affairs minister was supported by the Palestinian Authorities as well. They not only made false claims that the abducted Indians were alive, but also said that they (the Palestinian Authorities) were trying to secure their release through their own channels in Iraq.

39 men belonging to poor families were killed by the Islamic State in 2014 and our Indian minister and Palestinian Authorities had been saying they were alive.

Now, when DNA samples of 38 people have matched and DNA of the 39th person has matched 70 percent, our minister accepted that those 39 people were killed.

At the same time, our minister has made another claim that the story of Harjit Masih, who managed to escape from ISIS, was a lie. Harjit had claimed the Indians were shot dead soon after they were abducted, but that was not how it happened.

Here is the link of a news published on May 14, 2015 about Harjit Masih:-
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/ISIS-killed-39-Indian-hostages-Iraq-survivor-says/articleshow/47285947.cms

I really feel for these families. They had lost their earning members and false hope shown by our minister did not let them perform their last rituals. Now, the remains will be brought back from Iraq and these unfortunate families will perform their last rituals.

I cannot imagine what these families must be feeling right now. My heartfelt condolences.

Bring Back Our Girls

(Amrit Pal Singh ‘Amrit’)

Today is April 14, 2016. Exactly two years ago, on April 14, 2014, a terrorist group Boko Haram abducted 276 school girls, mostly aged between 16 and 18, from a secondary school in Chibok in northeastern Nigeria. About 50 of the girls escaped, but others were remained in captivity.

Most of the 276 girls taken from Chibok on April 14, 2014 were Christian. They are believed to have been forced to convert to Islam by their terrorist captors.

To demand the return of the girls, politicians, celebrities and the public globally united under the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls . The United States of America’s first lady Michelle Obama and Prime Minister of the UK David Cameron were among those, who joined the campaign.

Two years later, the girls are still missing.

Now, a video recording has emerged. CNN has obtained this video in which at least 15 of the kidnapped “Chibok Girls” are shown.

This video clip has proved that some of the kidnapped girls are still alive and in captivity of terrorists.

Kidnapping of 276 school girls from a school in Chibok was not the only incident in Nigeria, where students were kidnapped by Boko Haram. There are reports that about 2,000 girls and boys have been kidnapped by Boko Haram since the beginning of 2014. They could have been used as cooks, sex slaves, fighters and even suicide bombers.

International efforts should be made to rescue all these kidnapped girls and boys. The United Nations should do something concrete in this direction. Watching silently what is happening in Nigeria gives wrong message to terrorists everywhere. It is happening in Nigeria now. It can happen anywhere in the world, if international community does not care about it.

A Country of Hungry And Homeless People Is Not A Great Country

(Amrit Pal Singh ‘Amrit’)

What would you call the head of any family, who does not provide food and shelter to his own family members, but gives large donations to other families?

A part of the population in many countries sleeps hungry. There are many people in these countries that are homeless. The government of a country is similar to the head of a family. The governments of these countries are unable to provide food and shelter to their own citizens. On the other hand, the same governments spend lavishly on less than useful projects. These governments even give large donations to other countries for various reasons, but mostly, it would seem, to earn a reputation among other countries.

There is a popular saying that charity begins at home. When their own citizens are hungry and homeless, giving donations to other countries for political reasons does not make a country great. It makes them hypocritical.

When a part of its population, even if a very small portion, is hungry and homeless, a country can never claim to be ‘a great country’. If those governing the country ignore their own people, they are simply betraying their country.

A country is not merely a geographical entity. People living in a country are an essential part of that country. A government is formed to take care of its own country and its own people. Own country and own people should be the priority of every government. A government ignoring their own people is a failure.

Only Ordinary People Suffer From Partition Of Countries

(Amrit Pal Singh ‘Amrit’)

“Father, it’s me, your son,” Chae Hee-yang, 65, from the South Korea told Chae Hoon-sik, 88, from the North Korea, as they wept at their first meeting since the younger man was just a year old.

Countries are partitioned by greed of politicians. However, it is the common person, who suffers badly because of partition of his/her country. The partition of Korea is just a one example.

In 1947, Punjab and Bengal were divided by politicians. Millions of innocent people suffered in the region by India-Pakistan partition. In 1971, the same story was repeated, when Pakistan was divided and a new country Bangladesh was formed.

Only ordinary people suffered from separation of families, rapes, abductions, murders, arsons, looting etc during many such partitions. Those, who were responsible for these partitions remained safe during these massacres.

Separatism is not always the only option of our problems. Yet there are people, who are not ready to understand this. They allow themselves to be played in hands of a few selfish politicians.

Related News.

Hungary Govt Takes Hard Stand On Mass Immigration

(Amrit Pal Singh ‘Amrit’)

Hungary government is the first in the EU to take a hard and clear stand on mass immigration. Prime Minister Viktor Orban is considered one of the EU’s loudest opponents of mass immigration.

Hungary government has closed the main land route for migrants into the EU. It means the government has taken the matter into its own hands to halt Europe’s flood of refugees, ignoring what other European leaders are planning.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that he is acting to save Europe’s Christian values by blocking the main land route used by refugees, mainly Muslims, who travel through the Balkans and cross Hungary to reach generally Germany or Sweden.

Hard stand taken by Hungary will persuade a few other European countries to speak out. Efforts by Germany government to force European Union member states to accept mandatory quotas of refugees have already failed in disagreement. Germany has called for financial penalties against countries that refused to accommodate their share of migrants. This has been taken as a threat by central European countries.

A Czech official has accused Berlin of making empty threats. Slovakia said that such penalties would bring the end of the EU.

Germany says that Europe has a moral duty to accept refugees, while Eastern European countries argue that a more welcoming posture encourages more people to make dangerous journeys, and risks attracting an uncontrolled flood of migrants that would devastate social welfare systems and weaken national cultures.

(Related News).

European Leaders Do Not Know How To Deal With Migrant Crisis

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is absolutely right, when he says, “The reality is that Europe is threatened by a mass inflow of people, many tens of millions of people could come to Europe.”

“Now we talk about hundreds of thousands but next year we will talk about millions and there is no end to this.”

“All of a sudden we will see that we are in minority in our own continent.”

However, it is clear that European leaders have no idea how to deal with escalating migrant crisis…

~ Amrit Pal Singh ‘Amrit’
www.AmritWorld.com

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http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/new-refugee-proposals-after-photos-of-drowned-syrian-boy/128647.html

Brussels/ Budapest/Bicske/ Lisbon, September 4

European leaders, shocked by the horrifying image of a drowned Syrian child, rushed out new proposals to address the escalating migrant crisis despite deep divisions in the 28-member bloc. Hungary, however, hardened its stand, with its right-wing prime minister claiming the growing migrant crisis in Europe threatened to make Europeans a minority in their own continent after hundreds spent the night stranded on a train surrounded by police.

The heartbreaking images of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi lying dead in the surf after the boat taking his family to Greece sank brought home the horror of the refugee crisis — the worst of its kind since World War II.

With tensions growing in Europe over how to handle the situation, France and Germany said they had agreed that the EU should now impose binding quotas on the numbers that member states should take in, having failed to reach such a deal in June.

“We agree that… we need binding quotas within the European Union to share the burden. That is the principle of solidarity,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters during a visit in the Swiss capital.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will next week unveil a plan for the relocation of at least 120,000 more refugees to ease the burden on frontline EU nations Greece, Italy and Hungary, a European source said.

EU president Donald Tusk also called on member states to share the resettlement of at least 100,000 refugees — far above the current agreement for 32,000.

In Britain, the Guardian newspaper reported that Prime Minister David Cameron was preparing to respond to growing pressure to accept a bigger share of refugees, by accepting thousands directly from UN camps on the border with Syria.

“Final details of the numbers, funding and planned location are being urgently thrashed out in Whitehall,” the Guardian cited government sources as saying.

Cameron earlier promised the country would fulfil its “moral responsibilities”, after having only accepted 216 Syrian refugees over the past year. He said the numbers allowed would be kept “under review”.

EU foreign ministers are set to meet in Luxembourg on on Friday to discuss the escalating crisis, after pressure for action was heightened by the images of the drowned child.

Kurdi was seen in photos in a red T-shirt, blue shorts and shoes and lying motionless on the seashore before a rescue worker picks up his limp body.

“I was holding my wife’s hand. But my children slipped through my hands. We tried to cling to the small boat, but it was deflating. It was dark and everyone was screaming,” his grieving father Abdullah Kurdi told Turkey’s Dogan news agency of the sinking. — AFP

Hungary’s Orban warns of ‘tens of millions’ of migrants

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said: “The reality is that Europe is threatened by a mass inflow of people, many tens of millions of people could come to Europe.”

Viktor Orban’s regular interview to a public radio came as hundreds of migrants, many of them refugees from the Syrian war, woke after a night on a packed train stranded at a railway station west of Budapest, refusing to go to a nearby camp to process asylum seekers.

“Now we talk about hundreds of thousands but next year we will talk about millions and there is no end to this,” he said.

“All of a sudden we will see that we are in minority in our own continent.”

Shouts of “No camp, freedom!” broke out; Using shaving foam, they wrote on the side of the train: “No camp. No Hungary. Freedom train.”

The migrants had wrestled with police on Thursday, some throwing themselves on the tracks insisting they be allowed to remain on the train bound for a border town near Austria.

The train had left Budapest on Thursday morning after a two-day standoff at the city’s main railway station as police barred entry to some 2,000 migrants. Hungary says they must be registered, as per European Union rules, but many refuse, fearing they will be sent back to Hungary if caught later in western and northern Europe.

Hungary has hit out at Germany, the most popular destination among the migrants, for saying it would accept asylum requests from Syria regardless of where they entered the EU.

Parliament in Budapest is expected to endorse on Friday a raft of measures to effectively seal Hungary’s southern border with Serbia to migrants, creating holding zones on the frontier where migrants will be held while their papers are processed and potentially sent back into Serbia.

“Hungary cannot ignore Schengen rules in its procedures,” said Orban, referring to Europe’s zone of passport-free travel.

“Migrants must cooperate with Hungarian authorities, with the German authorities and if Germany wants to admit Syrians, it should issue permission for them to go into Germany.” Orban said the new measures being debated by Parliament would be implemented from September 15.

“Everyone should be prepared for this: Serbia, Macedonia, the immigrants, the human traffickers. We ourselves will prepare for this, and a different era will start from September 15.”

UK to accept thousands more refugees from Syria: Cameron

Britain will take “thousands more” refugees from Syria, British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Friday.

Cameron said Britain had already accepted around 5,000 Syrians under its existing resettlement schemes, which would continue to take in more refugees.

“Given the scale of the crisis and the suffering of people, today, I can announce that we will do more in providing resettlement for thousands more Syrian refugees,” Cameron told reporters in Lisbon after meeting his Portuguese counterpart.

Britain’s government has faced calls to take in many more refugees after broad media coverage of the image of a dead Syrian toddler washed up on a Turkish beach. — Reuters

Innocent Until Proved Guilty

(Amrit Pal Singh ‘Amrit’)

Article 11
(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

(The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations)

The Part 1 of the article 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations says:

(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.

Article 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in fact further expands the rights given in Article 10.

Even if a person is indicted with a penal crime, he has the right to be considered innocent until proved guilty.

It is possible that an innocent person is accused of punishable offences. If he is considered guilty even without trial, it is a violation of his basic human rights. One needs to understand the difference between an ‘accused’ and a ‘guilty’. The legal system is supposed to punish a ‘guilty’, not an ‘accused’. First, the offences made by an ‘accused’ should be proven according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence, and if he is proved ‘guilty’, he should be punished accordingly.

‘All the guarantees necessary for a defense’ has been mentioned in the 3rd point of Article 14 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in these words: –

3. In the determination of any criminal charge against him, everyone shall be entitled to the following minimum guarantees, in full equality:

(a) To be informed promptly and in detail in a language which he understands of the nature and cause of the charge against him;

(b) To have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence and to communicate with counsel of his own choosing;

(c) To be tried without undue delay;

(d) To be tried in his presence, and to defend himself in person or through legal assistance of his own choosing; to be informed, if he does not have legal assistance, of this right; and to have legal assistance assigned to him, in any case where the interests of justice so require, and without payment by him in any such case if he does not have sufficient means to pay for it;

(e) To examine, or have examined, the witnesses against him and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him;

(f) To have the free assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand or speak the language used in court;

(g) Not to be compelled to testify against himself or to confess guilt.

The Part 2 of the article 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says:

(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

We need to understand this part carefully.

It is possible that an action is considered no crime at a particular time; however on a later stage the same action is considered a criminal act under any national or international law.

For example, according to the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, killing a tiger is a criminal offence.

However, if any person had killed a tiger before the passing of this law, he cannot be tried under this penal code.

According to the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the minimum imprisonment prescribed is three years which may extend up to seven years.

Now, suppose a person kills a tiger in India. Maximum imprisonment prescribed is seven years according to the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. After he committed the crime, suppose the Indian government amends the law and extends imprisonment up to 14 years. The accused when proved guilty cannot be given imprisonment for 14 years. It is simply because when he committed the crime, the maximum punishment was seven years in prison.

In case, he is imprisoned for more than seven years, it is a violation of his basic human rights, according to the Article 11 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Failure to Implement Universal Declaration

(Amrit Pal Singh ‘Amrit’) December 10, 2013

On December 10, 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This Declaration was the first international acknowledgment that all human beings have basic rights and freedoms.
65 years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations, position of human rights has not been changed very much. Even after 65 years, ordinary people of so many countries do not know what human rights are. No concrete steps have been taken to stop human rights abuses worldwide. The United Nations and various governments should realise that it is their failure and they cannot run away from their accountability.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

It is the time for the UN, governments, human rights organisations and individual human rights defenders to sit together and make an effective plan for implementation of Universal Declaration of Human Rights. If we do not make suitable efforts in this direction, the state of affairs of human rights and freedom will not change in next 65 years either.

Social Norms Are Always Changing

(Amrit Pal Singh ‘Amrit’)

Chandu was a high official in Mogul royal court during the rule of King Jahangir in Delhi, India. After the engagement of his daughter with (Guru) Hargobind Sahib Ji, the son of Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji, the fifth Guru of Sikhs, he (Chandu) used disrespectful words for the Guru. Sikhs there heard these words and felt very humiliated. They asked Guru Ji not to accept this marriage proposal. Guru Arjun Dev Ji did what Sikhs wanted.

The marriage between Chandu’s daughter and (Guru) Hargobind Sahib never took place. As was the norm of the upper caste Hindu society of those days, Chandu’s daughter remained unmarried till death.

It was unacceptable for an upper caste Hindu woman in those days to think of any other man, once her name is associated with a man. Once a woman is engaged with a man, no other man would marry her in case her engagement is broken. Such were the norms.

In those days, it was impossible for a Hindu widow to get remarried. Sikh Gurus encouraged marriages of widows, so that they could start their new lives. It was intentional change in social norms.

In this day and age, we can observe how the Indian traditional society has changed itself. Broken engagements, or even broken marriages are not a taboo anymore for girls, despite the fact that many people still exist who are not pleased with these transforms.

On a social network website, I came across a message in Hindi, which goes like this: –

In previous days, girls used to say, “I first passed B.A. 1, then B.A. 2, and then B.A. Final. Or, I first Passed B.Com 1, then B.com 2, and then B.com Final. Or, I first cleared B.Sc. 1, then B.Sc 2, and then B.Sc. Final.” Now-a-days, a modern girl says, “I first had my engagement (first), then my engagement (second), and then my engagement Final.”

While many socially respected families till today take it very humiliating if their daughter’s engagement is broken, many others do not take much notice of it. Girls are married even three or four times and they are almost accepted in ordinary society.

This news is now old that a film actress in Mumbai had a baby from a foreigner cricketer even without marriage. More and more people are adopting live-in relationships, even if such relationships have not been socially accepted in a big part of India.

However, it seems that social norms are now going further with more changes. In the landmark judgment, the Supreme Court of India framed guidelines for bringing live-in relationship within the expression ‘relationship in the nature of marriage’ for protection of women under the Domestic Violence Act. The Supreme Court says that live-in relationship is neither a crime nor a sin and Parliament should frame law for the protection of women in such relationships and children born out of it.