Pride month is a celebration of LGBTQIA+ communities all across the world, their rights, and their culture. It is marked by a spirit of resistance and acceptance as opposed to an attitude of shame imposed by society. Pride is now recognized as a massive celebration including marches, protests, and parades. People gather in huge numbers across the world and express themselves in myriad forms in several events.
Amid this month which comes human relationships of all forms, the Kerala High Court on Tuesday allowed a lesbian couple to live together after they were forcefully separated by their parents.
One Adhila Nasarin had filed a habeas corpus petition following which Fathima Noora, who was allegedly “abducted” by her family, appeared before the Kerala court. The two-judge bench of Justice K Vinod Chandran and C Jayachandran had no other query than asking the couple if they wished to live together, to which they replied yes. The jury then helped reunite the couple through a proceeding that lasted for barely a few minutes.
The misery of the Kerala couple
Adhila (22) is a resident of Aluva, and Fathima (23) is from Kozhikode in Kerala. The two have been in a relationship since their school days in Saudi Arabia. They came out to their parents on May 19, and on facing resistance decided to elope and sought shelter at Kozhikode-based Vanaja Collective, a Kerala-based NGO that supports marginalized communities, after undergoing mental torture at home.
To their dismay, both families followed them to Vanaja Collective and tried to separate them again. Following this, Adhila’s parents successfully convinced them to come home by feigning support and promising to accept their relationship. But instead, they were taken to Adhila’s relative’s house in Aluva, where they were even forbidden from sleeping and faced emotional torture again.
On top of that, Fathima’s parents lodged a false complaint with the Thamarassery police station alleging that Adhila had kidnapped their daughter. The police, upon realizing that the adult couple had actually sought to live together, dismissed the complaint.
However, Fathima’s family took their daughter away from Adhila by force on May 24. Subsequently, Adhila sustained injuries inflicted by her father while trying to defend Fathima from her family. She was later shifted to a shelter home after Binanipuram police came to know about the struggle.
Shedding more light on the issue, Dhanya, a friend of the couple from the LGBTQ+ community and a member of Vanaja Collective, alleged that the police play-acted in order to benefit the families.
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“Even after the HC decision, the Binanipuram police tried to take the couple to the station for a compromise with parents that further affected them mentally,” she claimed.
Social media comes to the rescue
Since she was unable to communicate with Fathima and after the Thamarassery police shrugged off Adhila’s attempt to file a complaint against her partner’s family saying it was an internal issue, she took to social media on May 28 and detailed their ordeal. The videos went viral gaining massive support online.
When Adhila finally got a chance to speak to Fathima on May 29, she realized that the latter was being forced by her family into conversion therapy, a harmful practice, banned by the Madras HC, that aims to “cure” a person’s sexual orientation. After over a week of being separated, the couple finally reunited on May 31 with the Kerala HC order.
Dhanya is now concerned about the couple’s security right now due to previous experiences.
“We are scared for their safety as the emotional blackmailing from relatives still persists. The certificates required for pursuing a job, passport, laptops, and even Aadhaar cards are in the possession of their families. We are planning to file another complaint as they are not willing to give the documents,” she added.