In Love For 6 Years, 2 UP Women Divorce Their Husbands & Marry Each Other

Despite the Supreme Court having scrapped section 377, decriminalising homosexuality, life is not exactly a cakewalk for people who identify as homosexual. Apart from social stigma, there are no clear laws to protect their rights.

Two women from the Hamirpur area of UP divorced their husbands and got married to each other. Aged 24 and 26, the two fell in love in college. They were forced to drop out of college when their families came to know about their relationship.

They were later married off against their wish.

Representational image/Reuters

¡°We were married off six months after leaving college, but could not forget each other. We divorced our husbands and fought a legal battle to stay together again,¡± they said.

Now, the two women have divorced their husbands and are saying that they do not plan to lay any kind of claim to their husbands¡¯ property. They tied the knot in a temple and took vows in front of their lawyer and friends.

However, same-sex marriage or civil partnerships are not recognised by law in India. On the basis of this, the registrar has refused to register their marriage.

Daya Shankar Tiwari, the lawyer of the two women, said: ¡°Registrar RK Pal has refused to register the marriage on the ground that there was no government order on same-sex marriage.¡±

Pal said: ¡°How could I have registered the marriage when there is no such provision? Same-sex marriage is not allowed. We don¡¯t even have an online proforma for it.¡±

The two women, however, are not yet ready to give up ¡°Our lawyer has told us that since the Supreme Court has done away with Section 377, we can stay together. No one can trouble us. We have been living together as a couple for some time now,¡± one of them said.

Their lawyer said he would challenge the registrar¡¯s decision in the court. ¡°The women are within their legal rights to stay together,¡± he said.