Sri Lanka, Feb. 13 -- Earlier this month, the Legislative Assembly of Uttarakhand, a North Indian State at the foot of the Himalayas, passed a Uniform Civil Code (UCC). While most of the provisions were progressive, there were some which put fetters on "live-in" relationships, to the extent of criminalizing them. These provisions have come in for much criticism on the grounds that they invade privacy and individual liberty guaranteed by the Indian constitution.

The law defines living-in as a "relationship between a man and a woman who cohabit in a shared household through a relationship in the nature of marriage."

The Bill aims to regulate live-in relationships by imposing an obligation to register them. Section 378 makes it mandatory f...