Moving in with your partner in India's picturesque Himalayan state of Uttarakhand may soon require informing authorities and complying with a new law regulating "live-in" relationships.
This key proposal within the state's expansive Uniform Civil Code (UCC) - designed to establish a unified personal law for all residents, regardless of religion, sex, gender, and sexual orientation - has garnered more attention than the entire law itself since it was tabled in the state assembly on Tuesday. A common law has been one of the
original promises of Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which also rules Uttarakhand.
Unmarried couples living together is still frowned upon in most parts of India, where these relationships are commonly referred to as "live-in".
Under the proposal, partners - the law specifies a man and a woman - must submit a live-in relationship statement to the registrar, who conducts a summary inquiry within 30 days. During this investigation, the partners might be asked to "supply additional information or evidence" if necessary. The registrar also forwards live-in relationship statements to the local police and informs parents if either partner is under 21.
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