LGBT community's struggle and victory inspiration to continue fight: activist's partner

The Supreme Court verdict legalizing gay sex among consenting adults has given a "ray of hope" to continue the struggle against injustice, Sabha Husain, the partner of one of the five left-wing activists under house arrest, said Thursday.

Husain said the struggle of LGBT community and the historic Supreme Court verdict are an inspiration for her and her partner, Gautam Navlakha, to continue their fight for justice.

"Just as we were waiting for a verdict for all of us, the Supreme Court gave the most historic judgement on decriminalising homosexuality. It is a moment of pride for all of us. Gautam and I feel this has been possible due to the relentless struggle and campaign of the LGBTQ community," she told PTI.

Navlakha is one of the five human rights activists and lawyers who are accused by the Maharashtra government of having links with the banned CPTI (Maoist) group. They were arrested by Maharashtra police last week after a series of raids in several cities. The five were to be sent into detention, but got a reprieve by the Supreme Court, which allowed them to be kept under house arrest pending investigations. On Thursday, the Supreme Court extended the house arrest period to September 12.

Husain compared the struggle which the LGBTQ community underwent before the Supreme Court verdict to the one she and her partner have been going through.

She said Navlakha saluted the spirit of the LGBTQ community.

"Their struggle and today's victory is an inspiration for us to continue our fight for justice. We have learnt a lot from their persistence and perseverance and resistance," she added.

She said they are hopeful of a positive verdict from the apex court. "The Supreme Court will intervene where democracy itself is threatened. We will wait as patiently as we have done till now and see what happens on September 12," she said.

She said Navlakha is disappointed that he is not been able to see his family, and is confined by barricades around their Nehru Enclave residence in south Delhi.

"Gautam has a big family ... but we are getting used to barricades." However, she and Navlakha are able to interact with each other freely as there is no police presence inside the house, she said.

When she has to meet friends she goes up to the barricades because no visitor is allowed to walk beyond that point.

"We are having gate meetings. I am free to go anywhere but voluntarily I like to stay around. I don't want to leave Gautam," she said.

"How long can they have that kind of surveillance? They have been seeing us for a week. We are not the ones who will run away. We are here to fight. So they don't sit right there in front of the door and are present around the barricades," she said.

The Maharashtra Police raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31, 2017.