INDIA – A court in India has provided police security to a lesbian couple, who fear a backlash from anti-gay family and community members. Savita, a 25-year-old student at Choudhary Charan Singh University and her 20-year-old wife Veena, 20, were married by a court in Haryana, close to New Delhi, earlier this month. The women say their families have threatened to kill them since they wed.
Earlier this year the couple had approached the district court in Gurgaon, a satellite city of the Indian capital, and complained that Savita had been forced to marry against her will. She had left her husband five months after the forced marriage after telling him she was in a lesbian relationship with Veena.
According to The Times of India their lawyer, Vandana Agarwal, pressed for police protection as parents of one of the girls have objections. The court went through the petition and instructed the city police to provide security till Aug. 16.
The court also issued notice to the couple’s parents. Agarwal said, “They are living in Gurgaon secretly and I can’t disclose their location.” She admitted that the couple has taken a very bold decision, which girls from even the upper-strata of Indian society don’t take.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Dr. Abhe Singh told The Daily Telegraph, “The couple has been shifted to a safe house and we have provided adequate security to them on the courts orders. The security is provided on the basis of threat perception and in this case the couple feared that their families might be against the relationship.”
Although homosexuality has been decriminalized, India does not recognize same-sex marriage so the pair’s nuptials are not legally binding.
