Gunja stated that they suffered from their husbands’ drinking and abusive behaviour. It led the two women to seek a peaceful and loving life together. They plan to settle in Gorakhpur, rent a place and work to support themselves.
The temple priest, Uma Shankar Pandey, said that the women had performed all rituals quietly and left after completing the ceremony.
“We were tormented by our husbands’ drinking and abusive behaviour. This pushed us to choose a life of peace and love. We have decided to live in Gorakhpur as a couple and work to sustain ourselves,” PTI quoted Gunja as saying.
Is their marriage legal?
No, the marriage between Kavita and Gunja is not legal. Same-sex marriages are illegal in India.
In October 2023, the Supreme Court of India rejected legalising same-sex unions, disappointing millions seeking marriage equality. The petitioners argued that denying marriage violated their constitutional rights; at the same time, the court accepted the government’s proposal to form a panel to consider granting legal rights to same-sex couples.
The government and religious leaders opposed same-sex marriage, insisting that only Parliament could decide the legality. The court ruled in favour of the government. It stated that law-making was Parliament’s role.
What India thinks
According to the survey conducted by BuzzFeed News and Ipsos in May 2015, 29 per cent of respondents in India believed that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry legally. An additional 18 per cent supported some form of legal recognition without marriage.
This indicated that a total of 47 per cent of Indians were in favour of legal recognition for same-sex unions. Among the 23 countries surveyed, India stood at the bottom three, along with Turkey and Russia.
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