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The Madras High Court held that while the Supreme Court had not legalised same-sex marriage, queer couples can “very well form a family”.
In a May 22 order, the bench of Justices GR Swaminiathan and V Lakshminarayanan noted that: “The expression ‘family’ has to be understood in an expanded sense.”
“Marriage is not the sole mode to found a family,” the High Court said. “The concept of ‘chosen family’ is now well settled and acknowledged in LGBTQIA+ jurisprudence. The petitioner and the detenue can very well constitute a family.”
Delivering its verdict on petitions seeking legal recognition for same-sex marriages, a five-judge Constitution bench had ruled in October 2023 that the issue must be decided by Parliament and that there was no fundamental right to marriage.
In January, the Supreme Court dismissed review petitions against its October 2023 judgement.
The observations by the High Court came while it restrained a lesbian woman’s family from interfering in her personal life and unlawfully detaining her.
The court was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by the partner of a 25-year-old detenue, after the couple was separated when the detenue was allegedly forcibly restrained by her family.
The petitioner had moved the High Court after she alleged that the police refused to help the couple.
In court, the detenue’s mother accused the petitioner of leading her daughter astray and alleged that her child was now a drug addict. The mother thus claimed that her daughter required counselling and rehabilitation.
The court rejected the contention.
“It would be unfair to accuse her [detenue] of any kind of addiction,” the court said. “She made it clear that she wants to go with the petitioner. She confirmed the allegation that she is being detained against her will by her natal family. It appeared that she was forcibly taken to her home and beaten.”
The court also noted that it was told that the detenue’s “natal family members forced her to undergo certain rituals so that she will become normal”.
The bench criticised the police for their “rank inaction” and “insensitivity” despite receiving a complaint from the petitioner.
Also read: Explainer: Why the Supreme Court refused to legalise same-sex marriages
This article first appeared on Scroll.in
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