E-Paper
Pune same sex couple signs MoU for legal protection
The two met in October 2021 and decided to live together, the MoU, which was registered on April 7, stated. However, the family of the 19-year-old began to harass them and since February, they faced a “serious threat to their lives,” the couple’s lawyer Vikas Shinde said
In a rare incidence of a same-sex couple seeking legal validity for their relationship, a Nagpur-based lesbian couple registered a notarized memorandum of understanding (MoU) on in a Pune district court to ensure protection from their families who are against their relationship.
One of the signatories is 28 and hails from Nagpur while the other is a 19-year-old student and hails from Gondia district of Maharashtra. The names of the signatories have been withheld to protect their identities.
The two met in October 2021 and decided to live together, the MoU, which was registered on April 7, stated. However, the family of the 19-year-old began to harass them and since February, they faced a “serious threat to their lives,” the couple’s lawyer Vikas Shinde said. The document aimed at getting legal protection from those “inimical or hostile to their relationship,” Shinde said.
“Both the parties have mutually decided to live-in voluntarily without any force, fraud, coercion, under influence and therefore there are making this MoU to this effect. It has been agreed by and between the parties hereunto that they will live together on mutual promises herein contained and mutual promises of each parties to act as the living companion and partner to the other,” the MoU stated.
“The parties do hereby undertake, assure, agree and declare unto each other that they both by self-determination are very well aware about their sexual orientation and identity,” it added.
“My partner’s family decided to hold her wedding. She told me that she wanted to stay with me and left her house. A police inquiry was initiated against me and it was alleged that I eloped with her. I was getting threatening messages. We have to stay together. I don’t know what will happen in the future. I contacted activists and came to Pune and signed the MoU,” the 28-year-old said.
The document stated that the couple will open a joint bank account and bear all living and daily expenses jointly. “Any property purchased from this account shall be considered joint property of the parties. They have no grievance against one another pertaining to the same,” it stated.
“Though Section 377 has been scrapped, there is no law to endorse same sex marriage. At this point, there has to be a legal measure to ensure that the couple stays securely and safely. Hence a memorandum of understanding has been signed. This could the first case where a same sex couple has signed an MoU. There can be legal protection to them if they are being threatened by someone. Till one of them breaks the MoU, the agreement remains valid and binding for both the parties,” Shinde said.
There is a clutch of petitions before the Delhi high court seeking legal recognition of same sex marriages under the Special Marriage Act, the Hindu Marriage Act and Foreign Marriage Act.
This also includes a petition filed by three persons one of whom is an OCI (overseas citizen of India), and another who is a US citizen, to allow a foreign-origin spouse of an OCI cardholder to apply for registration regardless of gender or sexual orientation.
A petition challenging the Hindu Marriage Act has also filed at the Kerala HC.
Same sex couples seeking legal protection from courts or the police usually file affidavits stating their intention to live together as consenting adults. Recently, the Tamil Nadu HC issued a series of directives in a case where a lesbian couple was harassed by the police and the families for their decision to live together. The court directed that when state police received any missing persons cases that involve consenting adults belonging to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ+) community, the police close the complaint without subjecting them to any harassment.
