India: Runaway lesbian couple caught by police in Bihar

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a white background.

Two girls have been caught after they ran away from their homes to get married in the first-case of same-sex marriage in the eastern Indian state of Bihar.

The teenage girls, whose names have not been disclosed by police, were maids who went missing from their homes earlier this month.

Police officer NK Rajak reports that they were found through locating their positions using mobile phone tracking.

They were staying in a hospice in Sasaram. They had married at a temple in the city on 4 October.

The father of one of the girl’s lodged a case of kidnapping his daughter. Both families had problems with their relationship and forbade them from seeing each other.

According to NK Phulwarisharif lava, another police officer, the couple say that they cannot live without each other

The lovers will face court in the state capital of Patna. The maximum penalty for abduction in Bihar is death.

In 2009, same-sex sexual activity was decriminalised in India.