Having entered the 3rd year of our BMM course as Journalism students, we've opened ourselves to a whole new world. There are so many things that we want to write about... This is our blog, where we will try and bring to light,some of our first journalistic attempts.here's us, the budding reporters and news people of tomorrow (hopefully!)

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Article 377 and all the possible mixed opinions

articles 377, yes even the psychedelic pen is gonna talk about it, but i promise there is some thing in this article which a lot of you readers wouldn't be aware of. one post on it and we'll end the discussion once and for all.
if you go to look at it with one perspective, all the newspapers, news channels and most of the blogs are talking about how the repealing of this article was essential for a truly liberal India and how we should ensure that every human, every citizen irrespective of his sexual orientation should be given the basic liberty to indulge in a physical act. also the newspapers were happy that since the western countries have legalised gays, we shouldn't get late in doing the same. and then there were the citizens wondering why the media was going all gaga about it. yes, this celebration is limited to the media alone.
there are, as we know the opposition parties, who are bound by their religious identities which directly affect their vote banks. and a religion does not permit any act against the 'law of the nature'. what law of the nature are we talking about over here? its the physical union of 2 (or more) people of the same sex. its not much about the oral sex, which is what the article prohibits. this law was initially crafted for avoiding marital rapes, keeping a track on paedophiles and for making sex with animals illegal. however, it mentioned anal sex and that made gay union also illegal.
now talking about 'strait' Indians, alot of them are uncomfortable what has happened in the last 3 to 4 weeks. A lot of guys are scared of getting 'checked out' by gays in public places. a lot of hostel girls also complain about similar incidents and now, every one fears that these things will happen more directly and in the open. apart from this stupid threat, Indians have never been comfortable with certain things. gays were always supposed to be a concept existing in the west. marriage, one of the most important institutions of ones life in India also needs to be revised for them. the couple can practically not bear a child and take the family legacy ahead. it was, 'they say' not accepted in the religious texts, and it is ,thus a SHAME to be gay....
thats the normal perception of all the people who are not accepting the gays and hence, they can come up with a 100 more arguments about the same. and this perception is shared by most of the orthodox (orthodox in the mind...age no bars!) people, even the people who govern and protect the system.
we are talking about the Matunga Racket which happened some where in the year 2007 and involved article 377 related crimes. this is what happened.
a gay is sitting in the cyber cafe, looking at gay porn on the net. an undercover cop tracks him and asks him if he wants to get hold of some more gay porn. the guy obviously agrees to it, and the cop calls him to a secluded place in matunga near the king circle police station. the undercover cops hands over the porn to him, and while the porn is still on him, a police van comes and arrests him on charges of possession of porn CDs. now the police know that he is gay and hence they threaten to arrest him under article 377. they also slap him a few times and make a lot of fun by calling him names. the guy obviously doesnt want to get arrested since his family might come to know about his sexual orientation and problems might just follow. so is there any way out?..yes ofcourse MONEY!. the police take all the money he has, take his ATM card and empty that too before leaving the guy. this racket however was busted in the year 2008 before which alot of people were troubled- illegally- by the police. this was mostly in Matunga. however, similar atrocities by the police on the gays were recoded at quite a few places in the city.
reason?..well orthodox mind set which leads to an absurd chauvinistic behavior and then support of their uniform and in the long run support of the religiously guarded political parties. alot of things together. so what if this leads to an increase in STD(sexually transmitted diseases) so what if it leads to a rise in human development issues. have you ever wondered what happens to the rights of the homosexual prostitutes?..is there a law to protect their rights?..or should i ask if they have any rights in the first place. not because he is a prostitute, but because he is indulging in sex against the article 377, a self proclaimed law of the nature.
i am happy the act has been repealed and now life will be a little more accommodating for the homosexuals. the point is, they form a considerable chunk of population (educated and young that too) and if given the status of a normal Indian citizen, they too will make the country proud. if ethnicity is not issue in development, then sexual orientation also should not be one.
personally, i dont feel comfortable around them. May be in sometime i will. but if we go to look at the larger picture its almost ok. i hope it doesnt give rise to sexual crimes (which is one of my biggest fears in the midst of all this)
if its about the rights and humanity, all for it but if its about crime, then since we have made the law flexible for homosexuals, we need to give strict punishments under the law for sex and violence related crimes.

posted by Isha.
please comment and give a feedback on the post.

3 comments:

  1. This issue has raised so many questions about the safety of homosexuals and also about the role of the govt.Lets hope the govt comes up with laws(in fact, as soon as possible) that will include strict punishments for people who misuse the liberty given to them.

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  2. i know i know ... like hw we got scared today at marine drive remember!!??!!..

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  3. HI Isha, nicely written post. It's good to see that India has become so liberal that the bloggers don't hesitate to use certain phrases in their blogs any more. Good!
    Anyways, regarding the post, there are two things that I wanted to highlight.
    First is the legal aspect. Section 377 of IPC clearly states that it prohibits 'carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal'. So, there's no question that Gays were trapped by accident in this section, as you've said.
    Second is the cultural aspect of it. I don't understand why people have such a problem with the Indian culture. Our culture has been established, evolved and tested by times. It was developed by the first of the civilizations on the earth and was the richest culture until it was destroyed by the British. Instead of reviving the culture, we always talk about questioning it. But my dear friends, what is correct for the western world might not be correct for us. I completely disagree with the fact that Gays had to be legalized in India because they were done in western countries. Instead, why can't we focus on counseling or developing them into straight (not strait) people? If biology and psychology can develop the methods to change sex, why can't they develop something to make someone straight instead of homo???

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