Divorce pleas cite gay relations more frequently than ever-Oct 25, 2010

Divorce pleas cite gay relations more frequently than ever

Sukanya Shetty
Posted: Oct 25, 2010 at 0551 hrs IST

(ITS ANOTHER HIDDEN ASPECT AND ARE REALITIES OF LIFE WHICH EXISTS IN OUR SOCIETY SINCE AGES, BUT WE TEND TO IGNORE OR HIDE IT,INSTEAD OF FINDING SOLUTIONS OR REMEDIES.ITS IMPORTANT TO KNOW LGBT FACT SO THAT THESE PEOPLE CAN LIVE IN THEIR CIRCLE WITHOUT HURTING ANY OLD OR YOUNG OR KID,....OR SELF.AND OTHERS ALSO NEED TO KNOW SO THAT THEY PROTECT THEMSELF FROM THEIR PREFERENCES UNKNOWINGLY. SAME TIME SPECIALLY IF A PERSON WHO WANT TO BE THEIR LIFE PARTNER WITHOUT KNOWING THAT PERSON BELONG TO LGBT GROUP CAN BE IN TROUBLE LATER ON SO ITS BETTER IF THEY KNOW IT BEFORE.AT THE SAME TIME RESPECT THEIR PRIVACY AND DIGNITY,AND DO NOT DISCRIMINATE THEM ON THE BASIS OF THIS BIOLOGICAL DISORDER!!! I HAVE ALREADY WRITTEN ABOUT IT EARLIER IN THIS BLOG AND DISCUSSED WITH SOMEONE AS WELL,WHO BELONGS TO THIS COMMUNITY AND HAVE WORKED FOR FEW SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS WHICH WORKS ON THESE ISSUES AS A VOLUNTEER AND REALIZED WHAT KIND OF SICKNESS AND POLITICS EXISTS IN THESE PLACES/PEOPLE,WHICH REPULSED HIM AS WELL!!!....VIBHA)


Mumbai In the year since the Delhi High Court passed a landmark judgment overturning a 150-year-old law and legalising consensual homosexual relationships between adults, more and more women stuck in unhappy marriages have filed for divorce on the grounds that their husbands are “homosexual”.

Most women were once reluctant to speak out against their husbands for such a sexual orientation; many now seem to have overcome that.

“It isn’t that such cases have not been filed with the courts earlier. We have had many women who after a lot of prodding and investigations spoke up. A change, even though slight, has been seen in the court when women narrate their case. That is a major mind change,” said Advocate Shabnam Kazi, who practises in the family court in Bandra.

One such woman, a 32-year-old who married a man with a flourishing shipping business after an earlier broken marriage, says the first few months of her marriage were happy even though it was not consummated. When the wait continued, she began to probe what the problem might be. The possibility of impotency crossed her mind initially. “When she discovered her husband was involved sexually with a much younger boy, she confronted him and her parents-in-law. It was a shocking revelation for her when she discovered that his parents were aware of his preference. His marriage was just a counter to the social stigma,” said advocate Audrey D’Mello, who counselled the woman initially before she decided to have her community intervene. D’Mello, associated with NGO Majlis, says at least a dozen women have approached the centre with similar issues.

The legal battle may often swing based on whether the marriage is consummated. “Someone who has not had any sexual encounter with their spouse can file for annulment,” says senior lawyer Nilofar Akhtar, who has seen the trend too.

A few women have had a more complicated marriage. One, mother of a 4-year-old and a lecturer in a city college, was married a decade ago. “It is a very tricky case. She has had evidence collected where she can prove that her husband is involved in a gay relationship. She hacked into her husband’s email and found various interactions he had with a gay partner. But here she could not file for nullity on the grounds of non-consummation of marriage. We suggested the ground of cruelty and fraud,” says D’Mello.