Consensual cohabitation between 2 adults of the same sex isn’t illegal or a crime, the High Court of Uttarakhand observed recently while hearing a plea.
Individuals from the same sex might not be competent to enter into wedlock since the law doesn’t recognize such marriages, but they still have a right to live together even outside the wedlock, Justice Sharad Kumar Sharma said in an order passed on June 12.
The Court said that “It is a fundamental right which is guaranteed to a person under article 21 of the Constitution of India, which is wide enough to protect an inherent right of self determination with regards to one’s identity & freedom of choice with regards to the sexual orientation of choice of the partner”.
The Habeas Corpus petition was filed by a woman alleging that her partner, with whom the petitioner was in a consensual relationship since 2016, was being wrongfully confined by her mother & brother.
The term Habeas Corpus literally translates as “produce the body” & is a plea seeking a directive to the Govt to produce a detainee before the Court.
Even if the parties, who are living together though they are belonging to the same gender; they are not competent to enter into a wedlock, but still they have got a right to live together even outside the wedlock,” the Court observed.
However, the HC eventually dismissed the plea after the woman, claimed to have been wrongfully detained, told the Court she is not under pressure or wrongful confinement by her family members.
The Court said that “In view of the statements & affidavit on record, this Habeas Corpus petition is dismissed because of the statement recorded by the detenue herself before this Court that she is not under pressure or a wrongful confinement”.
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