A culture which has been a beautiful blend of various customs and ideologies somehow demeans a certain section of the society based on the preferences of dominant groups. The current laws on homosexuality not only violate the fundamental rights to life and personal liberty provided to us under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, but also creates a claustrophobic environment for Indian citizens.
Chapter XVI, of the Indian Penal Code, which contains Section 377, dating back to 1860, was introduced during the British rule of India. It criminalises sexual activities “against the order of nature”, arguably including homosexual sexual activities.
In our country where rape is punishable with imprisonment not less than seven years. A consenting sexual relationship between two adults of same sex is weighed on the same scale with imprisonment for life or with imprisonment which may extend to ten years.
On one side, the unity of leaders from different religions and sects against homosexuality is prevalent. On the other, organisations like the Naz Foundation and Voices Against 377 have been trying to break the chains of this homophobic behavior.
Despite facing rejections twice, the Naz Foundation recently submitted a curative petition in the Supreme Court regarding the discrimination against the LGBTQIA+ community by Section 377. The section will be reviewed by the Supreme Court in the upcoming months. The recent judgment to uphold Right to Privacy as a fundamental right by a bench headed by the former chief Justice of India J. S. Khehar is leading the way to this progressive change.
People from different walks of life have come to accept queer people as a part of the society, and believe it is a natural human orientation. Celebrities like Imran Khan and Anushka Sharma have spoken out loud in support of the community. Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament, has been another prominent face in this movement. He initiated two private member bills to review Section 377 in the parliament, in 2015 and 2016.
Whereas on the other hand exalted officers like the former Additional solicitor General P. P. Malhotra considered homosexuality to “degrade moral values of society”. A similar view was shared by the former home minister, Shivraj Patil, in 2008.
Satirizing Section 377, Akhil Katyal published a poem “Girl, when you”, in 2013, to create awareness about this discrimination by relating the section to heterosexual liasons.
“Girl, when you
blow your boy,
or boy, when
you go down
on her, or when
both of you use
a toy, and all the
world’s a blur,
I know it feels
like heaven, you
too violate 377.”
Bringing a law to decriminalize Section 377 seems like a giant leap considering all the backlash it faces in the name of ‘Indian culture’, but it is the right thing to do. It is not a disease or a ‘tendency’. It is one’s personal right, it is one’s business. One can choose to be whatever they want to be, love whoever they want to. Curtailing one’s freedom by hiding behind the thin curtain of the ‘Indian culture’ is violating one’s basic freedom.