A Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Haryana on Thursday termed live-in relationships a "dangerous disease" that needs to be eradicated from society and urged the government to make a law against it.
Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha during 'zero hour', Dharambir Singh also said divorce rates in love marriages were high and the consent of the parents of the bride and groom should therefore be made mandatory for such alliances.
"I want to bring to the notice of the government and Parliament a very serious issue. Indian culture is known for its philosophy of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (world is one family) and brotherhood. Our social fabric is different from others in the world. The whole world is impressed by our unity in diversity," the MP from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh said.
Noting that India has a long tradition of arranged marriages, Singh said a large section of society even to this day gives priority to marriages arranged by parents or relatives.
This has the consent of the bride and groom and arranged marriages are based on a match of several common factors such as social and individual values and likes as well as family backgrounds, he said.
"Marriage is considered a sacred relationship that continues for seven generations...Divorce rate is about 1.1 per cent in India as compared with America which has a rate of about 40 per cent. It has been observed that the rate of divorce in arranged marriages is very less. However, there is a lot of increase in divorce rate recently and the main reason for it is love marriages," Singh said.
"Therefore, it is my suggestion that the consent of mother and father of the bride and groom be made mandatory in love marriages because in large parts of the country marriage does not happen in the same 'gotra' and due to love marriages there are a lot of conflicts in the villages. Scores of families are destroyed in these conflicts, therefore the consent of both the families is important," he said.
Singh said a "new disease" has emerged and this social evil is called "live-in relationship".
Under this, two persons, man or woman, live together without marriage, the BJP MP said.
"Such relationships are very common in western nations but this evil is fast spreading in our society also and the consequences are horrible. Recently, the case of Shraddha (Walkar) and Aftab (Poonawala) had come to light in which both were in a live-in relationship," Singh said.
Such cases keep coming to the fore almost daily, he added while referring to the gruesome case in Delhi of a man allegedly killing his live-in partner and chopping her body to pieces.
"Not only this is ruining our culture but also hatred and evils are spreading in the society. If this continues our culture will die and there will be no difference between us and others," he said.
"I request the minister that a law be made against live-in relationships so that this dangerous disease can be eradicated from society," Singh said.
