India’s ace sprinter, Dutee Chand, who came out in the open and admitted to being in a relationship with a young relative, is now a challenge to be accepted by her family. The 23-year old couple, who won two silver medals in the Asian Games 2018, is among the few players in the world who have accepted publicly gay relations.
Dutee, who has been training in Hyderabad, said, “I have a relationship with a 19-year-old woman from my village for the past five years. She is a BA II year student in Bhubaneswar’s college. She is my relative and whenever I come home I spend time with her. She is like a life partner for me and I want to live with her in the future. “
The Supreme Court had last year declared a historic decision, while mutually agreeing gay relationships among adults as non-criminal, but the marriage between such people is still not valid in India.
With the time of 11.24 seconds in the 100 m race, national record holder Dutee said that her parents have not expressed any objection to this relationship till now, but her eldest sister threatened to send them to jail besides leaving them out of the family. Dutee said, “There is a great fear of my elder sister in my family. She ousted my elder brother from the house, because she did not like his wife. She threatened me that she would do the same with me. But I am also an adult who has a personal freedom. So I decided to pursue this relationship and make it public.”
Dutee said, “My elder sister thinks that my partner’s interest is in my property. She told me that for this relationship she will send me to jail. “
Dutee said that if his partner wants to marry anyone in the future, then it is free to marry. She also said that she will be participating in World University Games next month and she is expected to qualify for this year’s World Championships. Along with that, her goal is to qualify for next year’s Olympics.
Partner name not revealed
The runner did not name the name of her partner but said that the verdict of the Supreme Court on this issue encouraged her to come out publicly. Dutee said that there was another reason to make this relationship public, that she did not want to be accompanied by what happened with the runner Pinki. On Pinki, her ‘Live in Partner’ accused of raping her. Pinki was a member of the Indian women’s team, winning the gold medal in the 2006 Asian Games 4x400m relay.