The Madras HC recently came to the rescue of a same-sex couple in a live-in relationship. Natives of the Madurai district, the two women were in a relationship for about 2 years. One of them was a 22-year-old and pursuing her MBA and her partner was a 20-year-old undergraduate student. They told the HC judge how their friendship blossomed into love, and that they intended to be a partner to each other for life.
However, their parents did not like this, and exerted pressure on them to separate. Consequently, the 2 women left Madurai and were under the care of a city-based NGO, Indian Express reports. They further filed a petition seeking protection without any disturbance from their parents while they were living together.
Before passing his interim order on Tuesday, Justice N Anand Venkatesh revealed how he personally spent some time researching and collecting material to arrive at a proper understanding of the issue. He stated, “To be open, I am also trying to break my own preconceived notions about this issue and I am in the process of evolving and sincerely attempting to understand the feelings of the petitioners and their parents, thereafter proceed to write a detailed order on this issue.”
“What is required for the present is an understanding of the issue in hand,” he said, hoping that both the parties would work towards a peaceful resolution. He asked the parents of the 2 women to face the matter wisely and subject themselves to counselling by a field specialist in LGBTQ issues. For this purpose, he directed them to well-known psychologist Vidya Dinakaran to counsel them and submit a report on the same on April 26, 2021.
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