Meet the couples fighting for same sex marriage in India

With gay sex only decriminalised in India in 2018, campaigners say marriage equality is the logical next step, as Namita Singh reports from Delhi

Wedding reception organised by Vaibhav Jain’s parents for the two NRI grooms at Hotel Lalit in Delhi on 30 November 2019 (Vaibhav Jain and Parag Mehta)

Vaibhav Jain had never been to a Pride parade in India for fear of being outed. When he moved to the US in 2011 to pursue his higher education, he decided to attend one for the first time as a spectator. Little did he know that it was where he would meet his life partner – a man who would join him in his legal battle for same-sex marriage to be recognised in India. 

“It was hot and humid and I was excited. And that was the moment when I saw my husband, Parag Mehta,” Jain tells The Independent. “He was wearing this cute white T-shirt with the word ‘desi’ written on it, holding this giant Pride flag and he was waving it,” he recalls.  

Mehta says he remembers the photo from the Pride that Jain had sent him on Facebook a day later, along with a personal note where he confessed to being able to attend the parade for the first time in his life without fear, and as well as about his captivation with him. They went out on a coffee date and, five years later, got married before a circuit judge in Washington DC on 19 January, 2017.