According to the Hindustan Times, Shadab Hasan, 29, and Sanjana, 30, will be married later this year, after the Muslim holiday Eid. Sanjana, a transgender woman, and Hasan have been in a relationship for nine years. Hasan had previously been engaged to a woman of his family's choosing and was scheduled to marry her on June 7, but towards the end of May, his family relented and accepted his wish to marry Sanjana instead.
"They called me home to tell me they had accepted me as their daughter-in-law," Sanjana told a Hindustan Times reporter. "Our families have met and preparations for marriage are on."
Sanjana's family, too, has come around to her decision to marry Hasan. Her brother used to violently rebuke her for her gender identity and sexual orientation, but has now given the couple his blessing.
The couple say they have "been through a lot of emotional turmoil" over the past nine years.
Hasan's sister, Nazma, and brother-in-law, Saleem, were the only allies the couple had. Now they have promised to let Sanjana and Hasan raise their 3-year-old daughter, Shifa.
Sanjana works as a counselor for a community-based organisation that serves India's self-identified third-gender population.
"We have always been rebuked by families, friends, and relatives," she said. "As a teenager, I have lived and followed the traditions of eunuchs, danced in gatherings, and even traveled to far-off places to fend for myself. Going to college was a nightmare, and I visited my family only after it was dark. It seemed life was heading nowhere. But now it is all over."