‘The backlash can’t break us’: Meet the couple fighting for love and equality in India

India’s government calls same-sex marriage ‘an urban elitist view’. For Ananya Kotia and Utkarsh Saxena, legal recognition would be the natural next step for a relationship that began in 2008, they tell Namita Singh

Ananya Kotia (left) and Utkarsh Saxena outside the Supreme Court of India, New Delhi, on 26 April 2023 (Supplied by Ananya Kotia)

On the stairs of India’s Supreme Court, Utkarsh Saxena has one hand wrapped around the shoulder of his partner, Ananya Kotia. In turn, Ananya is holding his boyfriend around the waist, as any couple would. But there’s more to this picture than meets the eye.

Taken immediately after they presented their arguments for marriage equality, it was a moment Saxena never imagined he would see in this lifetime.

A five-judge constitutional bench has reserved its verdict on a batch of petitions seeking legal recognition of same-sex marriage in India. At the hearing in April lasting 10 days, at least 18 couples, including Saxena and Kotia, argued about the rights and privileges that come with marriage, along with their right to equality which is protected by the law. India’s government, on the other hand, opposes marriage equality, calling it an “urban elitist view”.