Adhila Nassarin (23) and Fathima Noora (23) are finally together. “We are as free as birds and sky is wide open to us,” said Adhila and her living partner Fathima, who returned to their flat in Chennai after their busy duty hours.
Both were in the news recently after their parents forcibly separated the lesbian couple and tried to marry one of them.
A distraught Adhila first took to social media to share her ordeal and approached the Kerala high court with a habeus corpus plea and the court allowed the lesbian couple to live together on May 31 this year.
Three months on, both are enjoying their new found freedom of living together and are hopeful the road ahead is not bumpy as before.
“One has to live with his/her inhibitions and sexual orientation but society put barriers and pose too many restrictions. We feel our life will not be complete unless we live for ourselves,” said both adding they have no taboo or fear in admitting their relationship and in fact many have started accepting them as any other young couple around. Even when looking they were looking for a flat, they did not hide their identity.
Hailing from upper middle class NRI Muslim families in Kerala, both began to bond during their school days in Saudi Arabia but could not pursue their relationship due to parents’ objection.
After completing their degree from different colleges in India, both got jobs in MNCs and they began afresh. They started living together in a house in Kochi from May 2022.
They were yet again forced to separate by their respective parents due to which they underwent severe mental and physical torture.
They finally decided to go public about their relationship and sought the help of the court.
Their continued belief in the Indian Constitution and judiciary helped them take their case forward.
“We do not want to live in our past so we left our hardships for now. We want to live our life in full. We need a happy and contended life and be least bothered about what society and others say,” said Fathima.
“Often parents see same sex love as a psychological problem and sexual deviation and force treatment and endless rounds of counselling. Soon social alienation, discrimination, violence and abuse follows. It is difficult to come out of these torturing rounds. In our case, our economic independence played a key role,” they said.
Both highlighted the fact that their union is just like any other relationship.
“We share all our household work. Usually in normal household, women will be in-charge of kitchen. But in same sex relationship, sharing and caring is equal. We feel people are more supportive and understanding than we expected,” said Noora suggesting that things are changing for good in society.
“We are celebrating 75 years of the country’s independence. The country will have to go a long way in their outlook towards same sex relations. First, you have to understand them and agree with their orientation. We are happy that at least the new generation realises its importance and respect it,” said Adhila adding people like them never want to live in shadow.
Despite the historic verdict of the Supreme Court in 2018 which decriminalised same sex relations, members of the LGBTQ communities say the country has to go a long way in accepting them.
In a patriarchal society, where control over the women’s sexuality is the norm, for a lesbian to assert her sexuality becomes all the more difficult and cumbersome, they say.