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A lesbian couple living together in Bengaluru has sent the city police into a tizzy. 21-year-old Anjali* and 25-year-old Asha* reportedly started living together in May, but Anjali’s parents are not okay with their relationship, and have approached the Vijayanagar police to file a complaint against them for ‘same sex relationship’.
The police, however, are in a fix: Nothing in the law allows them to file a complaint against two adults for wanting to stay together. But the parents insist that the two women be booked nevertheless, and the police themselves don’t understand how two women would want to be in a relationship with each other.
What’s worse, the police are mulling over ‘psychiatric counselling’ for them.
First reported by Chaitanya Swamy HM in Bangalore Mirror, in a report titled ‘All hell breaks loose as two women wed in Koramangala’, ‘all hell broke loose’ when Anjali’s parents filed a missing person complaint with the Vijayanagar police on 18 May.
In their complaint, the parents said that their daughter hadn’t returned home in two days. According to officer Shivakumar, who handles the missing persons complaints at the station, Anjali’s parents had complained to the Police Commissioner, who had directed the DCP to look into the matter. He said:
Once they realised that the two young women are in a relationship, the police, in all their wisdom, decided that the logical next step was ‘counselling’.
The police revealed that before attending to the missing person complaint with such haste, they had neglected multiple requests for help from the woman in question.
Anjali had visited the police station multiple times before she decided to leave her family, and had told the police that she did not wish to live with her parents as “the living conditions were unbearable.” The officer said:
And when she did, the police apparently did what they’re best at doing: ‘Counselling’.
“We had spoken to both the parents and the girl, and it seemed like they had come to an understanding, but the girl came back the second time and said the same thing. Then too, we had counselled the parents and the girl and sent them home,” officer Shivakumar said.
Now, Anjali’s parents want to file a complaint against the couple. But the police cannot do so, as there is no section of the law that disallows two consenting adults from living with each other. Shivakumar told TNM:
The Mahila Sahayavani, or the Vanitha Sahayavani, is a helpline service provided by the Bengaluru police which, according to their website, gives “Immediate rescue and support for women in distress.”
When TNM contacted the Sahayavani, and asked them what sort of counseling the two women were being given, a senior counselor said:
“They (Anjali’s parents) suspected that their daughter may need psychiatric help. Which is why the case was referred to the Mahila Sahayavani,” the official added.
Being lesbian, or gay or bisexual, is neither a mental illness nor a criminal offence in India. While it is popularly believed that Section 377 criminalises homosexuality, the archaic law doesn’t mention homosexuality – or even heterosexuality – at all.
The IPC section states:
“Explanation: Penetration is sufficient to constitute the carnal intercourse necessary to the offence described in this section.”
Which means, that any penetrative sexual act other than penis-in-vagina is criminalised by this law. That includes even oral or anal sex between a consenting man and a woman.
So does the police have any business telling them to go back to their parents, or insinuating that they are mentally ill?
While the law has been used to harass gay and lesbian couples, according to Lekha, a lawyer from Alternative Law Forum, it cannot be used to criminalise a sexual orientation, only sexual acts. Lekha explained:
*Names changed.
(This piece was first published on The News Minute and has been republished with permission.)
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