Queer Couples in India Struggle for Legal Rights

• Queer couples in India face numerous challenges, including lack of legal rights to participate in medical decisions, funeral rites, and other daily routines.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has clarified that people from the LGBTQIA+ community and those in queer relationships cannot be prevented from opening joint bank accounts and nominating their queer partners as their beneficiaries.
• The court has ruled that a Kochi man could pay his final respects at the funeral of his live-in partner Manu, provided the family did not object.
• The Union government has committed to setting up a committee to define the scope of entitlements to queer couples.
• The committee includes Secretaries to the Ministries of Home Affairs, Social Justice and Empowerment, Law and Justice, Women and Child Development, and Health and Family Development.
• The court has directed the panel to consider jail visitation rights, the right to access the body of the deceased partner and arrange the last rites, succession rights, financial and material benefits, and rights flowing from employment such as gratuity.
• Some banks have claimed that their inclusive policies allow queer couples to nominate each other as beneficiaries and open joint accounts.
• The panel’s recommendations may be sufficient for some benefits to be made accessible to queer couples, but amendments to family and inheritance laws, the Juvenile Justice Act, and the Income Tax Act may need to be passed by Parliament and State legislatures.