Asian Game medalist recently revealed about her same sex relationship and ever since that she is facing a tough battle of acceptance in her family. While Dutee was quite sure that her family would understand, the situation now has hit a new low.
Dutee has admitted her same sex relationship openly to the world. She said in a statement that I am having a relationship with a 19-year-old woman from my village for the past five years. She is studying B.A. 2nd year in a Bhubaneswar college. She is a relative of mine and whenever I come to home, I spend time with her. She is a kind of soul-mate for me and I want to settle down with her in future.”
However, section 377 was decriminalised by the supreme court last year but marriage between such individuals is still not legal in India.
Dutee, the 100m national record holder (11.24 seconds), says while her parents have not yet raised any objection to her relationship, her eldest sister has threatened to not only expel her from the family but also send her to jail.
“My eldest sister kind of wields power and authority in my family. She has thrown out my elder brother from home because she does not like his wife. She has threatened me that same will happen to me. But I am also an adult who has individual freedom. So, I decided to go ahead with this and make it public.
“My eldest sister feels that my partner is interested in my property. She has told me that she will send me to jail for having this relationship,” she said.
Dutee said her partner is free to marry whoever she wants to if she decides to do so in future.
“I will continue my athletics career. I am going to take part in the World University Games next month and hope to qualify for the World Championships later this year. My aim to qualify for next year’s Olympics, so I am training hard,” she said.
The sprinter has not revealed the identity of her partner and she said that the SC’s judgement gave her courage to go in public.
She said another reason for coming out in the open was that she did not want something which happened with sprinter Pinki Pramanik, who was accused of rape by her live-in partner.
Also, Dutee was banned for one year by the international athletics federation in 2014 for having higher testosterone (male sex hormone) level than permissible.
However, she won a landmark ‘gender’ case against the IAAF in an appeal to the Court of Arbitration in 2015 and was allowed to compete after being banned for one year.
Dutee hails from Chaka Gopalpur village at Jajpur district of Odisha and was born to Chakradhar Chand and Akhuji Chand.
Dutee Chand admits being in same-sex relation, says SC gave me believe that we aren’t wrong
