With the scrapping of Section 377, the LGBTQ+ community started its journey of being able to live freely in this country.
Despite same-sex partner marriage still not being legal in India, this move was a significant milestone for the community.
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However, members of the community are still facing trouble being accepted in society and this Twitter thread by a woman named Anisha Sharma sheds some light on the same.
Taking to the microblogging website, Anisha wrote, “In Sept 2021, Axis Bank introduced #ComeAsYouAre scheme – a #DilSeOpen charter of policies for LGBTQ+ customers & employees, where same-sex partners could open a joint savings bank account. My partner and I went to the 7 B’lows Branch to do this. Here’s what happened.”
She further explained, “With all our documents in hand, we visited the branch in New Siddarth CHSL, Seven Bungalows. On entering, we said we wanted to open an account and were directed to a table where there were 2 men & one woman.”
After telling the officers what they needed, the couple was asked by one of the male officers what their relation was with each other. When she informed him that they were partners, he immediately asked them if they wanted to open a current joint account. Anisha corrected him and said that they are same-sex partners and not business partners. When she informed them about the #DilSeOpen and #ComeAsYouAre campaign, the officer simply refused that such a thing exists.
“She indirectly asked us if we had any proof that we were married. We then informed her that same-sex marriage is not recognised in India,” Anisha wrote.
“The 2 men came back and again explained- only a current account would be possible if we wanted to say we were partners (“partners” = business partners, not life partners). Since the manager was busy, they offered to take down our number & get back to us after discussing this w/him,” recalled Anisha.
Needless to say, the awkwardness was increasing by the minute.
After that, the officers disappeared, and the manager approached them and informed them that a savings account isn’t possible since there is no proof of them being partners. “Current account is possible. We showed him the Axis Bank website. He left to take a call and never came back,” wrote Anisha.
Members from the LGBTQ+ community have to fight for basic human rights that every other cis het person gets without blinking an eye. This is disgraceful, if true, and completely against the nature of being inclusive.
After Anisha’s story went viral on social media, Axis Bank contacted the couple, and turns out, they were finally able to open joint savings account without having to ‘prove’ that they were partners. Here is the update:
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