Parents Of Homosexual Woman Attempt To Cure Her Of Her Homosexuality, Call Guru And Get her Forcibly Married
That our society has trouble accepting or even trying to understand things that are a tad bit out of the usual, like women having jobs, women having a say, women (or men) having a different sexual orientation is a well known fact. But that the society will go to any lengths to resist such change, so much so that they would force their own daughter, who is a homosexual, to marry a man who is heterosexual, is beyond comprehension. As is what has happened in a case in Delhi, where a woman had to file a petition with the court, for her parents forcibly married her off to a man when she told them she was not straight.
In a plea to Delhi High Court, the 23-year-old detailed out how she was forcibly married in 2019 despite her constant declarations on several occasions about her sexual orientation to her family while explicitly identifying as a homosexual. She said her parents and extended family simply refused to acknowledge, accept or even respect her sexuality and instead kept insisting that homosexuality is an illness of which she needs to be cured.
Her lawyers, advocates Vrinda Grover and Soutik Banerjee who are supporting her through the case stepped in to file a plea with the Delhi High Court, to get her protection from her family who was forcing their will on her. The plea also happened to mention how any and every attempt made by the woman to end her marital relationship was not successful..
Also Read : Centre Opposes Plea To Recognise Same Sex Marriage, Says Only Husband And Wife Make A Family. This Is Unfair!
Issuing notice in her plea to the Delhi government, police and her family members, the court also asked the police to ensure that no members of the NGO providing her assistance are harmed or harassed.https://t.co/VmpPUZMwFq
— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) March 10, 2021
The plea said, “The marriage was never consummated. On some pretext or the other, the petitioner’s husband delayed breaking this news to his family and the petitioner continued to live in the misery of a life she did not identify with.”
If that was not all, when things for the woman here started to get difficult, in 2021, her family resorted to mentally and emotionally blackmailing her into staying in the relationship regardless of her feelings about it. Burdening her with statements that said how her decision to split would bring disgrace to her family, she was told that for the sake of family honour, she would have to continue to live with her husband as his wife and serve her in-laws.
Delhi HC asks police to protect homosexual woman forcibly married off by family https://t.co/aHn3ue0Vn7
— Sahunewsbox9 (@sahunewsbox9) March 10, 2021
Her family went to the extent of calling a guru to help “cure” the illness of being homosexual out of her. What followed next was an intense and fraud conversion therapy using psychic interventions to change her sexual orientation. It was in context to this, that the plea mentioned, “Fearing for her safety, the petitioner decided on the same day to leave her matrimonial home so that her family cannot find her and force to undergo dehumanising rituals and ceremonies.”
Reaching out to an NGO-Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD) for help and a safe haven in such a situation, her case was reported to the local police however they were of little help. The petition further stated, “in brazen breach of law and their statutory obligations, leaked the information of the petitioner’s escape/departure from her matrimonial home and also leaked the contact details of the activists of ANHAD NGO to the petitioner’s father and other family members”.
However, after the case was finally addressed by the Delhi High Court, Justice Mukta Gupta directed the police that no NGO members are harassed or harmed for helping her. The court also issued notice to the Delhi government on the petition. The court also directed the police to provide protection to the homosexual woman.
