From correspondents in Chhattisgarh, India, 06:30 PM IST

Two tribal girls in Chhattisgarh have started living together after the police turned down their request to arrange their wedding saying the society and parents objected to their lesbian relationship.

Meena, 21, and Bundkunwar, 22, from the Gond community of Kotal village in Surajpur district had appealed to local police last week, claiming that they had been in a relationship for a year and wanted to get married.

The girls said their parents had been putting pressure on them to marry boys and asked the police to immediately arrange their wedding or allow them to end their lives.

'We told girls last week that police need some time to know the legal aspect of gay marriages and they were sent back to their homes. Now we have told them it is not the job of the police department,' Superintendent of Police R.S. Nayak told IANS. He said village elders were thinking of ways of separating them.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)