Madras HC Judge Seeks Counselling to Understand Lesbians
A Madras high court judge on Wednesday fixed an appointment with a psychologist to understand same sex orientation better before recording his judgment in a case pertaining to a lesbian couple.
A case was filed by a Lesbian couple in the Madras High Court. The two women are from Madurai who are currently taking refuge in Chennai with the help of an NGO and are seeking to continue their education and work simultaneously. The couple asked the HC to give them protection from their families who opposed the relationship. In a hearing, the court had directed the lesbian couple as well as their parents to undergo counselling with Vidhya Dinakaran. Dinakaran had submitted a report to the judge. In the report Dinakaran said, “The couple perfectly understand the relationship they have entered, and that there was no confusion in their minds. The couple also said they have a lot of love and affection for their parents and that their only fear is that they may be forced to get separated.” According to the psychologist, if the couple are separated they will face a lot of mental trauma. They are willing to wait for their parents, whom they strongly hope will understand the relationship at some future point of time.
When the psychologist spoke to the parents, the parents said they were afraid of spoiling their name in the society. They said they would rather prefer their daughters to live a life of celibacy, which according to them will be more dignified than having a partner of the same sex. The parents said as a lesbian couple they will not be able to have their own children. If they adopt, the family will lose their lineage.
Justice N Anand Venkatesh - a Judge of the Madras high court - was presiding over the case. He thoroughly read the psychologists report and said that, he has fixed an appointment with psychologist Dinakaran to understand “same sex orientation” better, before he could give his judgment in this case.
Justice Venkatesh said that in this case, when giving the judgement, the words must come from his heart and not from his head. Justice Venkatesh feels that such a session with a professional will help him to understand same sex relationships better and will help him change. He feels that after the session with the psychologist, he feels he will be able to make a decision from the heart. The court has also told both parties to undergo another round of counselling and the judge said that the couple’s parents couldn’t be expected to change their notions overnight. The matter has been posted to June 7. A total of four petitions demanding same-sex marriage are pending before the high courts of Delhi and Kerala. Though the Supreme Court in 2018, removed Section 377 of the constitution, which criminalized same-sex adult consensual relationships. However, several same-sex couples continue to seek protection from the court as their birth families continue to oppose their sexuality.
