Same Sex, Same Rights

As homosexual couples seek legal sanction for their unions, they encounter socio-political opposition. The ball is now in the country’s apex court to find a balanced solution

- KAUSHIK DEKA , SUHANI SINGH, Shelly Anand

December 29, 2021. That's the day Nagpur-based psychiatrist Surabhi Mitra, 31, and operations executive Paromita Mukherjee, 27, decided to embark on a life-changing journey. Dressed in matching leather jackets, and riding a bike, they set out for Hotel Wildernest on the outskirts of the city. There were floating lanterns in the sky, Mukherjee's favourite food-white sauce pasta-on the menu and the duo's selected tracks-Dua Lipa's 'Levitating' and Coldplay's 'Something Just Like This'-playing in the background. After two years of dating, the two women had finally come to the realisation that the time was perfect for "a ring commitment ceremony". Joining them on this special day were their friends and colleagues. The absence of Mukherjee's parents was compensated for by the presence of Mitra's father. The following week, photos from their ceremony went viral. "We gradually realised that the hatred in this world was not as much as we had assumed it to be," Mitra says of the public reaction.

The two are now dreaming of a beach wedding, and hope that the Supreme Court will soon confer legitimacy on it. The legal recognition would mean the world to the couple and perhaps also earn them the approval of Mukherjee's parents. This is exactly what motivated them to join the Integrated Network for Sexual Minorities (INFOSEM) and, with four others, to file a petition in the apex court in the first week of April seeking legal recognition for same-sex marriages.