Youth in India ape Western culture, spoil life due to lure of free relations with opposite sex: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court recently expressed concern that the youth in the country were spoiling their lives by imitating Western culture and giving in to the lure of free relationships with the opposite sex, even though they often fail to find a real soulmate this way. [Jai Govind v State].The youth in this country are under the influence of the social media, movies, TV serials and web series and often land in the company of the wrong persons, the Court said. .As a result, cases involving allegations of rape on false promises of marriage, instigation to commit suicide, murder or culpable homicide, and false implication for differences arising during the relationship are on the rise, the judge said. .Justice Siddharth made these observations while granting bail to a man accused of abetting the suicide of a woman, who the judge observed had “hopped from one affair to another with a number of boys” before she died by suicide in frustration when her family opposed these relationships or because of her incompatibility with the boys she befriended.."This is one of the many cases coming to the court where the youth in this country are spoiling their lives due to lure of free relationship with the member of the opposite sex aping western culture and not finding any real soulmate in the end," the Court observed..Indian society is in the state of confusion on whether to permit their young children to adopt the western norms or to keep them firmly within the bounds of Indian culture, the Court added..Indian families continue to struggle with accepting their children's choice of life partners, often stumbling over issues of caste, religion, and financial status, the Court proceeded to observe. This leads to various outcomes, such as their children eloping to marry their chosen partners, instances of suicide, or hasty engagements in an attempt to fill the emotional void left by previous unsuccessful relationships, the Court said. ."The young generation, unaware of the consequences of following the western culture is entering into the relationships being aired on the social media, movies etc., and thereafter ,after denial of social recognition to their choice of partner they become disillusioned and behave, sometimes against the society, sometimes against their parents and sometimes also against the partner of their choice when they do not find any way out from the predicament wherein they get landed after entering into such relationship," the Court further said..Social media and movies show multiple affairs and infidelity to the spouse to be normal, the Court noted. “This inflames the imagination of impressionable minds and they start experimenting with the same but they do fit (sic) in the prevailing societal norm,” the Court said..In the present case, the bail applicant and the deceased woman were involved in a love affair.The prosecution claimed that the applicant, along with others co-accused in the case, had kidnapped and raped the victim for days before she was abandoned in a market. Following the incident, the victim was stated to have committed suicide by ingesting mosquito repellent..The applicant denied these allegations. His counsel argued that after the deceased woman was in a close relationship with another man before she passed away, and that a complaint was not registered against this man because of his close relation with a sitting member of the legislative assembly (MLA)..While considering the rival submissions, the Court noted that this appeared to be a case where the deceased woman initially had a relationship with the bail applicant, before she developed a relationship with another boy. The bench added that the woman may have died by suicide out of frustration, after she was unable to find a clear path between the two relationships. .The Court ultimately allowed the applicant's release on bail and directed the lower court to expedite the trial and preferably conclude it within two years..The bail applicant was represented by advocates Vineet Vikram and Imran Ullah, while State was represented by advocate Vipin Kumar..[Read Order]