Udaipur : Though LGBT ( lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community is gaining acceptance in big cities, their unions are yet to be socially recognized in small towns. Same sex love has created problems for two young girls Laxmi and Simran who landed in jail on Valentine day, allegedly after trying to runaway from their homes.
Simran daughter of Rajendra Kumar resident of Ramganj Mandi, Kota and Laxmi daughter of Murli from Jhalrapatan of Jhalawad were school and college mates who fell in love during their growing years. When their families came to know about their ‘ unusual’ love, they tried to deter them from taking their relationship ahead and forced them to stop seeing each other. Laxmi’s family sent her away to Rawatbhata to her maternal grandparent’s home and when Simran came to know about it, she took some of her male friends to bring back Laxmi.
When the girls were eloping on bicycles, they were caught by the RawatBhata police who took them to police station. Despite Supreme Court ruling permitting consensual homosexual relation between adults, the police arrested the girls under section 107 and 151 of the CrPC. The girls where produced before the SDM who sent them to judicial custody as none from the family came ahead to give bond for them. ” We interrogated the girls who behaved unruly in the police station. We called their parents also who said that the girls wished to live together and were not ready to listen. We arrested them for misconduct and disrupting peace” Ramroop Meena, SHO RawatBhata said.
The Supreme Court decriminalised homosexuality by declaring section 377 of the IPC unconstitutional in respect of consensual homosexual sex between adults. Homosexuality was never illegal or a criminal offence in ancient Indian and traditional codes but was criminalised by the British during their rule in India.