Quran Prescribes Hundred Lashes For Unmarried Couples Having Sex, Court Tells Hindu Woman Seeking Protection For Living In With Muslim Man

A Hindu woman from Uttar Pradesh filed a petition in the Allahabad high court seeking protection from alleged police harassment over a complaint by her mother against her live-in relationship with a Muslim man.

The court has dismissed the plea, stating that the harassment was not established beyond doubt.

The bench, comprising Justice Sangeeta Chandra and Justice Narendra Kumar, said a dispute between two private parties over live-in relationships is a social problem which can be uprooted socially — and not with intervention of the court in the garb of violation of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution (protection of life and personal liberty) — unless harassment was established beyond doubt.

The court observed that while the Supreme Court has said that a man and a woman living together without marriage cannot be construed as an offence, the apex court’s observations should be seen in context and cannot be considered to promote such relationships.

Law traditionally has been biased in favour of marriage, the court said.  

The court further said that even in the Muslim law no recognition can be given to sex outside marriage and Quran prescribes a hundred lashes for unmarried couples having sex.

“‘Zina’ which has been defined as any sexual intercourse except that between husband and wife includes both extramarital sex and premarital sex and is often translated as fornication in English. Such premarital sex is not permissible in Islam. In fact any sexual, lustful, affectionate acts such as kissing, touching, staring etc. are ‘Haram’ in Islam before marriage because these are considered parts of ‘Zina’ which may lead to actual ‘Zina’ itself. The punishment for such offence according to Quran (chapter 24) is hundred lashes for the unmarried male and female who commit fornication together with the punishment prescribed by the ‘Sunnah’ for the married male and female that is stoning to death,” the order says.

The petition was filed by a 29-year-old woman named Kiran Rawat, a resident of Lucknow, who is currently in a live-in relationship with a man named Mohammed Rizwan, who is 30.

The plea said that they love each other and have started living together. The mother of the woman, however, is unhappy with this relationship and has approached the police, who constantly harass the petitioners and disturb their peaceful life.

The court said that the petition does not mention that they wish to marry in the near future, and no specific instances of the police coming and knocking their doors or taking them to the police station have been stated.

“Petitioners have come up to this court with a mere allegation, which has not been substantiated by any specific pleading and have prayed that this court should issue a mandamus to the police not to harass them,” the court said, while dismissing the plea.

Read the court order here.