Chandigarh, June 17 -- The Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed a protection plea filed by a live-in couple, observing that a section of society has started to "adopt eastern culture, whichis vastly different from Indian culture." The court asserted that their parents also have the right to live with dignity, and the petitioners, by running away from their parental home, are not only bringing "bad name" to the family but also violating the rights of their parents. The petitioners from Patiala claimed that both are adults, intend to solemnise their marriage and are currently living together in a 'live-in-relationship'. They alleged that the girl's family were interfering in their lives, harassing them and pressuring the girl to leave the company of the man, failing which he would be implicated in false cases. "The petitioners are unmarried and want to live together till they perform marriage, and as such, have sent a representation to the Superintendent of Police, Patiala, on June 1," the petition claimed, seeking the court's intervention. The court noted that the boy has not yet attained the legal marriageable age and that the petition itself states the couple intends to marry only after he turns 21. "...to attach legitimate sanctity to such a relation, certain conditions are required to be fulfilled by such partners. Merely because the two persons are living together for few days, their claim of live-in relationship based upon bald averment may not be enough to hold that they are truly in live-in relationship and directing the police to grant protection to them may indirectly give our assent to such illicit relationship, and, therefore, the orders cannot be passed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India which guarantees freedom of life to all citizens, but such freedom has to be within the ambit of law," the court said....