India, April 28 -- The Supreme Court on Monday cautioned against the "vagaries of relationships outside marriage" while expressing concern over a growing tendency to invoke criminal law after the breakdown of live-in relationships.

A bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan questioned whether a long-term live-in arrangement culminating in the birth of a child could, by itself, give rise to a criminal charge of sexual assault on a false promise to marry.

"This is what happens in live-in relationships. For years they live together.if they split up, the woman files a complaint for sexual assault," observed the bench, describing these as the "vagaries of relationships outside marriage."

The court's observations came as it issued no...