Women friends turned lovers win right to live together in Kerala

Adhila Nazrin and Fathima Noorah can now live together, as they wished despite families’ opposition, after the Kerala High Court allowed them to do so.

On Tuesday, the court ordered that the two could live as per their wish as they were both adults. The Kerala High Court’s ruling came after it heard the habeas corpus petition filed by 23-year-old Noorah.

A native of Ernakulam district, 22-year-old Nazrin and Kozhikode native Noorah had been fighting their families for the past several years to be able to live together.

Nazrin and Noorah had been friends since their time together in Saudi Arabia where they had gone to study. However, when their friendship turned into a romantic same-sex relationship, their families objected to it.

The two of them later returned to Kerala and continued their relationship. It is alleged that at some point Noorah’s parents forcefully took her in and thereafter she could not contact Nazrin.

When Nazrin could not get in touch with Noorah, the former approached the Binanipuram police near Aluva (Ernakulam) alleging that Nooram was being held hostage by her family and that Nazrin had been threatened by Noorah’s parents.

As directed by the police, Noorah and her parents turned up at the police station on Tuesday. Noorah was to be presented in the court as per the habeas corpus petition, where she proclaimed that she wished to live with Nazrin.

Recently Nazrin went to Kozhikode to meet Noorah and they stayed together for some time with the help of an NGO, Vanaja Collective.

According to Vanaja Collective, which engages in supporting marginalised sections, although the law permits same sex couples to live together, the police often does not respond positively to similar situations or complaints.