Love Commandos to fight for lovers' rights

-The Hindu

Workshop to be held in city on July 22

KOZHIKODE: Men, women, and transgender persons in love, take heart. Here is an NGO that will help you unite with your sweetheart. Religion, caste, creed, class, no bar.

If you want to marry your lover against the society’s or family’s will, or just live together, Love Commandos promises to help you.

The Delhi-based Love Commandos, founded in 2010 to battle the social crime of ‘honour killing’ in the country, is offering help, advice and guidelines to people in love in Kerala to live together.

On July 22, the NGO will organise a workshop for individuals in love who face family hurdles, social boycott or community ire. The workshop, the second in Kerala — the first was organised in Kochi on June 24 — will be held at Government Polytechnic College, West Hill.

Dozens of youngstes have already applied to participate in the meeting. “True, there have not been many “honour killings” in Kerala, unlike in North India,” Anil Jose, the chief coordinator of Love Commandos, told The Hindu. “But, Kerala is notorious for preventing young people from marrying persons of their choice on the grounds of religion, caste, wealth and social status,” he added.

Mr. Jose was a founder of the Facebook group Human Wellness Study Centre, which used to give advice and guidelines to people in love as well as healthy and scientific sex education. It had held several camps for young people and had drafted a human rights charter based on sexual justice. Mr. Jose said said the centre had recently merged with Love Commandos.

The chairman of Love Commandos, Sanjiv Sachdev, had after the centre’s Kochi convention, called up, offering to take the centre on board. Mr. Sachdev, whose organisation has already helped over 50,000 people to wed, resisting opposition from family and society, will attend the convention.

The Kozhikode workshop will focus on the rights of people in love, ways to seek police and legal help when society or family violate their rights, the possibilities of living together without marriage and open marriage, and, sexuality. There will also be individual consultation for those needing immediate help. (Contact numbers are 94474-98430; 98463-51897)