Punjab & Haryana High Court imposes ₹10K costs on live-in partners for seeking protection sans threat to life

The Punjab & Haryana High Court recently imposed costs of ₹10,000 on a live-in couple for filing a plea for police protection in the absence of an evident threat to their life and liberty..Justice Alok Jain had clarified during an earlier hearing of the petition that if the State determined that there was no perceived threat to the petitioners, they would be obliged to bear costs of ₹50,000. In the absence of such threat, the Court ordered,"It was made clear on the very first date that, in case, it is found that there is no threat perception to the petitioners, the petitioners will be burdened with the cost of at least Rs. 50,000/-. However, today learned counsel for the petitioners prays for withdrawal of the present petition and also for reduction of cost. Accordingly, the present petition stands dismissed, subject to payment of cost of Rs.10,000/- to be deposited by the petitioners jointly within in one month from today...".The Court was hearing a plea for protection by the first petitioner, a married woman, who was involved in a live-in relationship with the second petitioner, an unmarried individual.The couple had executed a live-in relationship deed on July 17 in Rajasthan, where the matrimonial residence of the petitioner was. On the same day, the petitioner had submitted a representation to the Superintendent of Police (SP) in Hisar, Haryana. She claimed that when she revealed her extra-marital relationship to her parents a week prior, she was physically assaulted by them and her husband, and was confined to a room.In the petition before the High Court, the couple contended that they were facing a life-threatening situation and their lives were in immediate jeopardy. .At the outset, the Court had observed that the petitioners' story was not very convincing and seemed like a bundle of lies.On going through the facts, the judge had noted in the earlier order,"It is a strange thing that if in case petitioner No. 1 had run away from the matrimonial home a week ago, then why did she go back to Rajasthan to execute the live-in-relationship deed.".The Court found that as per the report of the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Hisar, there was no perception of threat to the petitioners. After counsel for the petitioners sought to withdraw the plea, the Court allowed the same and imposed ₹10,000 costs, to be paid to the High Court Bar Association Lawyer's Family Welfare Fund..Advocate Ashwani Vaishnav appeared for petitioners. Advocate Anmol Malik represented the State..[Read Order].[Read Interim Order]