Kochi: The Kerala High Court has granted the prayer of a woman to let another woman live with her as life partner, based on a recent Supreme Court ruling that allows consensual same-sex relationship.
A 40-year-old woman from Kallada in Kollam had approached the High Court with a habeas corpus petition to get her life partner released from the custody of latter's family. A Division Bench then ordered the 24-year-old woman from Vattavila in Thiruvananthapuram be produced in court.
The older woman argued that she and her partner cannot live apart and pointed out that the younger one is old enough to make a choice of her own. She said her partner had left her home and called her mother after reaching Kollam railway station. The family then alerted the police, who then took her in and produced her before the Neyyattinkara magistrate. The court freed her. However, as she emerged from the court, her family took her by force and admitted her to a mental health facility.
The petitioner told the High Court she had visited her partner at the hospital. “She is willing to come with me, but the authorities are demanding a court order,” she said.
She also alleged that the partner's family is torturing her mentally and physically, keeping her under unlawful custody.