BENGALURU: An alleged same-sex marriage in the city is snowballing into a controversy. LGBT rights activists claim that one of the women lost her job after a section of the media reported that she was married to another woman. The woman was working with a furniture start-up.
Parents of the younger woman approached the women’s helpline Vanitha Sahayavani and sought counselling for their daughter. They also filed a petition alleging that their daughter was in a relationship with another woman.
Operator of the city police women’s helpline Rani Shetty said, “We have received a complaint but are yet to summon the woman. Though the parents have stated about their daughter’s relationship with a woman, we are yet to confirm this. We also have to speak to the woman about it to move forward with the counselling.”
DCP of West Division Anucheth confirmed that no case of same-sex marriage has been registered. He said that earlier, the parents of one of the women filed a missing complaint in Vijayanagar police station.
“We managed to trace the girl. She said that she wanted to live independently and being an adult she was well within her right to do so. As a result, the case was closed. No case of same-sex marriage between two women has been registered in the West division.”
Recent media reports stated that two women had got married at a temple in Koramangala. Same-sex marriage is a criminal act according to Section 377 of the IPC.
A group of LGBTQ organisations, including People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), LesBit, Jeeva, Karnataka Transgender Samiti and Karnataka Sexual Minorities Forum have denied that a same-sex marriage had taken place in Bengaluru.
Ramdas Rao, a member of PUCL, confirmed that the woman was fired from her firm. He said, “The woman has lost her job and her livelihood is at stake. She is also a victim of physical and emotional abuse at home, which were the reasons she left home. The parents are furthering this by exploiting the media.”