epilogue

The IPC 377 (Indian Penal Code – Section 377) is draconian in nature. It states:

Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

The section not only decrees homosexual love not just illegal, but also criminal. For a country with a population of 1.2 billion (a fifth of the world’s population), a 4% homosexuality gets you 48 million criminals. This is just sad.

It took Anjali Gopalan of the Naz Foundation and other organizations eight long years to persuade the Delhi High Court to decriminalize homosexuality between consenting adults. What matters now is how the fundamental and non-secular strata of the society takes it.

For starters, the head cleric of Jama Masjid, India’s largest mosque, criticised the ruling. Dominic Emanuel of India’s Catholic Bishop Council said the church did not “approve” of homosexual behaviour.

The main bone of contention for these people is that they consider homosexuality as unnatural. It is not their fault: The Indian law till some time ago, considered homosexuality unnatural. Homosexuality is both common and highly essential in the lives of a number of species.

Male lions sometimes band together with their brothers to lead the pride. To ensure loyalty, they strengthen the bonds by often having sex with each other. The dwarf-chimpanzees, our closest evolutionary neighbors exhibit homosexuality too. Over 1,500 species exhibit homosexual behavior. Calling homosexual behavior unnatural is plain falsification of facts.

Now let us come to the cultural (and religious) custodians who like to argue that homosexuality is not a part of Indian culture. The IPC 377 is a remnant of a 148-year-old colonial legislation (circa 1860) drafted by Lord Macaulay. Someone else’s point of view is our law and there’s certainly nothing “Indian” about it.

Also, chapter 11 of the Kamasutra, an ancient Indian text widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behavior, goes into great detail on homosexuality and homosexual relationships. In the Hindu narrative tradition, stories of gods and mortals changing gender occur. Sometimes they also engage in sexual activities as different genders. These stories and erotic art on temples wouldn’t germinate if homosexuality wasn’t a part of Indian culture.

The average Indian with his stigmatized mind is often confused about his own antecedents and identity. It is he who is trampling over the rights of freedom and choice of a minority. He has to wake up from his slumber and ignorance to rediscover what Indian Culture was before the atrocities of the British and other colonial powers. Nothing is more criminal than leading a life of lies.

As for the likes of Anjali Gopalan and Celina Jaitley, may their tribe increase.

No related posts.