In a significant judgement, the Odisha High Court allowed a 24-year-old trans-man to live with his same-sex partner. The petitioner, a woman who identifies herself as a man, was forced by her parents to marry a guy against her consent.
Petitioner Chinmayee Jena alias Sonu Krishna Jena had filed a habeas corpus application under Article 226 and 227 of the Constitution seeking protection of her woman partner, alleging that she was being kept away by her mother and uncle. The petitioner told the court that her partner’s mother and uncle were now trying to marry her off.
Jena produced a certification of Gender Dysphoria for Trans man from a psychiatrist. She went on to claim that she and her partner had fallen in love with each other in 2011 and had been enjoying a consensual relationship since 2017. The two were studying in the same school and later in the same college. They had been living in together in Bhubaneshwar until the latter’s mother had forcefully tried to take her away and get her married to a boy against her will.
A division bench of Justice SK Mishra and Justice Savitri Ratho heard this case and said that the petitioner has the right of self-determination of sex/gender and also has the right to have a live-in relationship with a person of choice even though such person may belong to the same gender as the petitioner, following the partner’s expression of consent towards wanting to live with Jena. They further directed the police to provide security to the girl and her partner. The High Court also ordered that the petitioner would have to allow the mother and sister of her partner to be in touch with her and that her partner would have all the rights of a woman as enshrined under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.