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Court wants NGOs to be mobilized to provide legal assistance, financial support, food and shelter
Empathizing with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual and other (LGBTQIA +) community, the Madras High Court ordered on Monday the Department of Social Justice and Union Empowerment recruit non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that could provide them with advice, financial support, legal assistance and protection until a law can be enacted to protect them.
Judge N. Anand Venkatesh ordered the ministry to upload the contact details of NGOs as well as their addresses, contact details and the services provided by them on its website within eight weeks and to revise the information periodically. Anyone facing a problem because they belong to the LGBTQIA + community can turn to one of the NGOs enlisted to protect their rights, the judge said.
It was also ordered that NGOs, in consultation with the ministry, keep confidential records of those people who contacted them and that aggregated data be submitted to the ministry twice a year. Making it clear that victims should be given assistance according to their needs, the court said NGOs should also coordinate with the police regarding crimes committed against them.
The court further ordered that appropriate modifications be made to existing government short-term homes, anganwadi shelters, Garima Greh (transgender shelter) to provide shelter, food, medical care and nursing facilities. recreation for people in the LGBTQIA + community in need of such assistance. . The ministry was tasked with creating the infrastructure requirements within 12 weeks.
The judge clarified that whenever the police received complaints of missing men / women from parents or relatives of people belonging to the LGBTQIA + community, these complaints should be closed after obtaining statements from the couple concerned that ‘they resided together of their own accord. He also ordered that consenting adults not be subjected to any form of harassment.
Awareness-raising programs could also be carried out for all stakeholders, including police and prison authorities, judges, physical and mental health professionals, educational institutions, health workers, public workplaces. and private, the judge said and ordered Additional Solicitor General R. Sankaranarayanan and Advocate General R. Shunmugasundaram to file their compliance reports by August 31.
The interim orders were issued following a written petition filed by two young women who fled Madurai for Chennai because their parents objected to the couple’s relationship. After ordering Madurai police not to touch the matter, Judge Venkatesh decided to draft an elaborate judgment on the matter at the request of the petitioners’ lawyer, S. Manuraj.
Observing that his own upbringing had always treated the terms homosexual, gay and lesbian as anathema and that a majority of society is in the same position of ignorance and preconceptions, the judge said he suffered a psychoeducation session and that he had also interacted with a transgender doctor. and her mother before writing her verdict that there is nothing wrong with LGBTQIA +
The judge referred to Canadian biologist Bruce Bagemihl’s book on animal homosexuality and said homosexual behavior has been documented in more than 450 species of animals around the world. Emphasizing the need for society to accept the LGBTQIA + community, he said: The voice of this community is now growing louder and society can no longer turn a deaf ear.
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