Indian lesbian couple, harassed by their families, commit suicide in each other's arms

Link: Qnews

Excerpt:

Two women, who allegedly shared a lesbian relationship, committed suicide by setting themselves ablaze after their families abused and tried for over a decade to separate them. The police recovered the charred bodies of the women, who died hugging each other, from the residence of one of the women at Sathangadu, near Thiruvotriyur, on Saturday, Times of India reports. 

Family members noticed thick smoke emanating from the house where the women stayed the previous night. They peeped through the window and saw the bodies lying as if they had died hugging each other. 

Police identified the women as Christy Jayanthi Malar (38) and Rukmani (40). 

[...]

Reacting to the incident, lawyer and activist Sudha Ramalingam said it was time a colonial law making same-sex relationship illegal was scrapped. "We have reached a stage where one has to accept relationships which are not termed normal. Everyone has the right, especially two consenting adults, to choose their way of life," she said. 

[...]

The two women were classmates and remained close in the decades since, despite marriages that their families arranged for each of them. Their relationship caused what Times of India calls "consternation in both families," including abuse by family members. 

At one point, family members hoping to split up the two women forced Rukmani to move to a more distant area. 

Despite the opposition from the relatives, the two women continued to meet when their husbands were out on work, Times of India reports. 

On Friday morning, Rukmani went to Malar's house after their husbands had left for work. Not finding Rukmani for a long time, her relatives started searching for her and finally found her in Malar's house. In front of several people, the family members abused her for having a "physical relationship" with Malar, whose family members also started shouting at the two friends. 

"Around midnight, they poured kerosene on their bodies and set themselves on fire. They appear to have hugged each other during the final moments of their life," an investigation officer who inspected the scene said.

[jw]