Melbourne: A 25-year-old gay Indian student who fled to Australia to escape a forced marriage arranged by his Muslim family has been granted refugee status.
The commerce graduate, who lives with his boyfriend in New South Wales, arrived on a student visa in March 2009 to study business management, but he withdrew from the diploma course after six months.
He claimed that his father locked him in a bedroom and demanded that he enter the arranged marriage with an Indian woman when he last went to his home in Hyderabad in 2011.
He alleged that his male cousins also assaulted him, twisting his nose and holding a knife against his throat as a threat against his life unless he changed his sexuality. The student escaped his family home with the help of a female friend, hiding in her house until he could use his return ticket to reach Australia.
He was granted refugee status by Australia's refugee review tribunal, The Australian reported on Wednesday.
