A day after sections of the media in Karnataka did a story on two young women from Bengaluru who were in a lesbian relationship, one of the women was sacked by the company she was employed in.
The 25-year-old woman has alleged that Zefo, a company that runs the e-commerce portal gozefo.com dealing with refurbished and used furniture, sacked her soon after a Kannada news channel telecast her (blurred) pictures.
The two women, aged 21 and 25, the younger one facing violence in her home, had moved in together sometime in May.
Though the younger woman had approached the police twice for help, with none forthcoming, she shifted out of her house. Later, her father approached the police, and filed a missing person’s complaint.
Bangalore Mirror first broke the story, followed by Kannada channel Public TV. Soon after Public TV broadcast a blurred image of the couple, the company asked the woman employed with them to leave. The woman told Bangalore Mirror:
According to Roomi Harish of the Alternative Law Forum, the company sacked the woman without having any dialogue with her.
The other woman told Bangalore Mirror that the company’s actions were unjustified. “No one can just claim that it's her and throw her out of the company. They told her it's very evident from what the TV channels have showed in the visuals, and did this,” she said.
Zefo responded saying they were looking into the matter:
Roomi also added that the media had got the story wrong and the two women had not gotten married to each other.
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) condemned both the news organisations and the company.
Being lesbian, or gay or bisexual, is neither a mental illness nor a criminal offence in India. While it is popularly believed that Section 377 criminalises homosexuality, the archaic law doesn’t mention homosexuality – or even heterosexuality – at all.
The IPC section states:
“Unnatural offences – Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with [imprisonment for life], or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine. Penetration is sufficient to constitute the carnal intercourse necessary to the offence described in this section.”
This means that any penetrative sexual act other than penis-in-vagina is criminalised by this law. That includes even oral or anal sex between a consenting man and a woman.
What the law definitely doesn’t criminalise is two adults deciding to live with each other.
While the law has been used to harass gay and lesbian couples, according to Lekha from Alternative Law Forum, it cannot be used to criminalise a sexual orientation, only sexual acts.
“The Supreme Court judgement in the year 2013 states that a person cannot be booked under Section 377 based on identity. Identity as in the person’s sexual orientation. It varies from case to case and since both of them are consenting adults, this will not become a criminal case unless one of the women becomes the complainant. Since both the women do not have any problem, it is not a criminal case,” Lekha explained.
(This article first appeared on The News Minute and has been republished with permission.)
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