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Feb 08, 2023
The Supreme Court on Monday stayed a Kerala High Court order directing a Kollam-native woman to go for "gender sensitisation counselling". Her lesbian partner had alleged that the former was being illegally detained by her parents for having a same-sex relationship.
A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud alongside justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala asked the young woman to be brought before the family court. Notices were issued regarding the same to the state government and the parents and sought a report to ascertain the factual situation of the case.
"We direct the fourth and fifth respondents (parents of the woman) shall in the interim produce the detenu before the family court at Kollam. They shall arrange for an interview of the detenu with Ms Salina of the Supreme Court E-Committee," it said.
"The state government and the others have been ordered to file their replies to the petition by February 17.
The petition claimed that the high court had detained and sent the woman back to her family with a direction to send her to a "gender sensitisation" counselling camp.
On CJI Chandrachud's query about the nature of the relationship between the petitioner and the detainee, the counsel said, "We (both the women) are partners. We are in love."
The bench noted that the high court had passed an order requiring a legal services authority official to visit the parents of the detenu to ascertain if she was in illegal detention, but her statement showed that she was not under illegal detention.
In 2022, the Kerala High Court had allowed a lesbian couple, Adhila Nassrin and Fathima Noora to live together on a habeas corpus plea filed by the former.
Nassrin and Noora’s families were holding them captive and torturing them, not allowing to sleep and harassing them over their relationship over the past few days.
Nassrin was later rescued by a social welfare group, however, Noora’s location remained unknown. With the help of a welfare group and the police, Nassrin filed a habeas corpus plea in the Kerala High Court for illegal detention or imprisonment.
The HC conducted the hearing with only the two women who agreed that they wanted to live together. After this, the court ordered for the women to be released from their families and provided protection, allowing them to live together.