HYDERABAD: While the AP high court upheld a lesbian couple’s right to cohabit on Tuesday, about two months ago another same-sex couple had fought and won a similar case at the Telangana high court.
But despite the favourable order, the couple – one is from Medak and other from Rajasthan – told TOI they still live in fear of repercussions.
The Telangana HC had in Oct directed the family from Medak to release the woman and allow her the “liberty to go with the person of her choice and stay at the place of her choice”.
“Her family keeps asking us to move to Medak, claiming that they will accept us. But we are afraid. What if they take her away again? If they can torture us once, they can do it again,” said Neelu (26) from Rajasthan about her partner, Sana, who had eloped to Rajasthan from Medak in June, fearing her family’s wrath.
“We are always living on the edge. There is constant fear of societal and familial pressures pulling us apart one day,” she said.
Court respite, but hurdles far from over
When they learned of our relationship, her parents had filed a missing persons report. The police tracked Sana down to Rajasthan and forcibly took her home. We knocked on every door and tried getting help from the police too, but all in vain,” Neelu said, recalling their plight.
Subsequently, they got respite from the Telangana HC. But Neelu said their troubles are far from over.
When TOI met others from the queer community in the city, many revealed similar struggles.
“It’s been over three months since I last spoke to my partner. His parents took away his phone, deleted his social media accounts, and stopped him from going to college. I don’t even know where he is right now,” said a 21-year-old student from Hyderabad.
He added: “We were so careful, but they found out about us through a mutual friend. Since then I have been living in constant fear that they will force him into something he doesn’t want. I feel helpless and alone, unable to reach him or protect him.”
Another lesbian woman shared how her family forced her into a heterosexual marriage.
“My parents said marrying a man would fix my mistake. They called my love a sin and kept telling me I was being misled by Western culture. When I refused, they locked me in my room for days, took my phone, and even stopped giving me food to teach me a lesson. They even threatened to file a police complaint against my partner if I didn’t agree to marry. Shortly after my marriage, I was diagnosed with clinical depression, but no one even knows about it, not even my husband,” said the 24-year-old from the city.
Jayant Iyer, founder of Queer Nilayam (Hyderabad), said: “We first try to counsel the couple before suggesting the legal route to understand how committed they are to each other and if they have the tenacity to go through with it. We also try to talk to the parents. Finding lawyers to take up pro bono cases is another hassle. However, we try our best to help such couples as no one comes forward to extend any support.”
