Press Release: Release of second edition (digital) of ‘Less than Gay’ – A Citizens’ Report on the status of Homosexuality in India

 

 

The AIDS Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan (ABVA) is releasing the second edition of ‘Less than Gay’ – A Citizens’ Report on the status of Homosexuality in India. The first edition of the Report – co-authored by seven members – was published in November 1991.

 

This edition has a long essay running into 18,360 words in the form of an introduction written by Shobha Aggarwal, advocate and member, ABVA. It details the struggle of ABVA (1988-89 till date) for the full repeal of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which had criminalised gay sex. ABVA has been submitting its Charter of Demands to the concerned authorities for acceptance of full rights of sexual minorities including same-sex marriage, child adoption, inheritance rights etc. ABVA demanded privacy rights in 1991 which was conceded by the Supreme Court in 2017. The Charter of Demands is detailed on page 209 of the ‘Less than Gay’.

 

The full Report is available here.

NEED FOR CONTINUOUS STRUGGLE

 

ABVA strongly advocates a continuous, peaceful democratic struggle of like-minded organisations/people for getting the Charter of Demands implemented. The judiciary has a very limited role in this regard. The Indian Parliament should be forced to debate all issues concerning the LGBTQIA community. So far Parliament has resisted this move leaving it to the courts to adjudicate the matter.

 

ABVA is of the opinion that it is a ploy to convert a political struggle to narrow, legalistic framework. The reversal of abortion rights in USA granted a few decades earlier – have been engineered by the present set of judges in the Supreme Court of USA in an increasingly right-wing, nationalist environment. This should be an eye-opener for all gay-rights activists in India so that the limited relief granted in 2018 Supreme Court judgement is not reversed by a larger Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in future. Will such a larger bench show the courage to repeal Section 377 in toto?

 

PETITION TO THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

 

ABVA is sending a copy of the second edition of ‘Less than Gay’ to the Union Home Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs for addressing the full Charter of Demands which is long pending. ABVA appeals to all concerned citizens, social organisations, academicians, activists, researchers and authors to form a broad coalition of forces to undertake a sustained, continuous struggle. This political struggle should be non-party based. It should make inroads in broader sections of society viz elected representatives, students, trade-unions, professionals and others.

 

Eternal vigilance is the price citizens have to pay for ensuring liberty. To achieve this a sustained LGBTQIA movement has to be ensured – Now!

 

ABVA Collective

Email: aidsbhedbhavvirodhiandolan@gmail.com

Blog:   http://aidsbhedbhavvirodhiandolan.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

 

BILLS ON LGBTQIA+ ISSSUES PENDING IN THE INDIAN PARLIAMENT

See links:

 THE LGBTQIA+ PERSONS (PROTECTION OF RIGHTS) BILL, 2022

&

THE SPECIAL MARRIAGE (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2022 

INDIAN SUPREME COURT APOLOGIZED TO GAY COMMUNITY; BRITISH GOVERNMENT SHOULD FOLLOW SUIT

Press Release

 

Around the 4^th anniversary of the partial repeal of Section 377 Indian Penal Code, a reception was hosted by the British High Commission, New Delhi. But how about the British government formally apologizing to the LGBTQIA community in India- as also in all other countries colonized by it. After all the colonial masters had bulldozed the sexuality culture of the natives and everywhere thrust an alien culture including anti-sodomy laws on those ruled. It brought centuries of trauma and torture to the sexual minorities who were targeted by the police and administration; extortion of money was the norm. Victims were jailed.

 

The British High Commissioner should have had the grace to assure that he would set in motion the process of a formal apology right from up to the Queen. The reception hosted at the British High Commission residence looked politically fake and devoid of any moral force in the absence of an apology.

 

The invitation to the Indian NGOs was ostensibly with a view to let it be known that more foreign funding of the NGOs for a future campaign is in the offing. (Funded work globally subverts peoples’ movements.) Besides how about the British government compensating the LGBTQIA community in India for destroying their culture, identity, life and forcing them to live in ignominy since 1860.

 

It needs to be stressed that partial repeal of Section 377 Indian Penal Code in India is akin to a concession called, Home Rule conceded by British colonial rulers decades before independence in 1947. (Adult consensual homosexual act in the privacy of one’s home has been wrested from the Indian Supreme Court in 2018; in this judgement the apex court had tendered an apology to the gay community.)

 

Since 1988-89 ABVA has been demanding in toto repeal of the anti-sodomy law which alone represents full freedom and liberation from colonial yoke. The full Gay Manifesto has been enunciated in ‘Less than Gay’ – A citizens’ report on the status of homosexuality in India publicly released in November 1991 by ABVA.

 

AIDS Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan Collective

Email: aidsbhedbhavvirodhiandolan@gmail.com

Blog: http://aidsbhedbhavvirodhiandolan.blogspot.com/

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Prisoners denied condoms in Tihar jail; Parliament, Judiciary & Executive of no help

By ABVA Collective

Prisoners still do not have access to condoms as an anti-AIDS preventive measure at Tihar jail – one of the largest prison complex in South Asia.

 

In 1994 ABVA had filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court asking for inter alia striking down of Section 377, IPC; supply of condoms to prisoners in Tihar jail, New Delhi. Lawyers repeatedly pleaded with the judges to let condoms be provided to prisoners as an interim measure. But the court refused to pass such orders and merely asked the petitioners to wait till the time the case would come up for final argument (which it did seven years later in 2001). The petition was dismissed then but crucial seven years were wasted as prisoners could not have the preventive measure.

 

Later heavily funded NGOs with their slick lawyers compromised and watered down the prayers to partial repeal of S. 377, IPC. The 2018 Supreme Court judgement on partial relief has not helped the prisoners a wee bit.

 

In the last three decades Parliament has stone-walled efforts to get a debate on the crucial real life issues pertaining to the sexual minorities – to wit the Gay Manifesto documented in ABVA’s report “Less than Gay”. The Executive, too, has been insensitive on the issue. In January 2022 ABVA filed an RTI application (scanned copy reproduced below) with the prison authorities at Tihar jail to enquire if prisoners have access to condoms within the jail premises.

  

A scanned copy of the reply received is reproduced below. The answer is NO.

So nothing has changed at the ground level even after the 2018 judgement. Ashley Tellis had prophesized this scenario right then that nothing will change at the ground level even after this judgement. On 6^th September, 2018 at 5.13 p.m. Ashley had opined:

 “I don’t think there will be any actual change on the ground.”

 He was right on the dot.

Read also:

Inmate alleges sodomy, Tihar starts probe

No Army Veteran Dares To Publish How Rulers ‘Ambushed’ Indian Army From Preventing 1984 Sikh Genocide

 

I salute the veterans who recently dared to write to the President and Prime Minister of India regarding “open call of the genocide of Indian Muslims”; their letter also mentions targeting of other minorities like Christians, Dalits and Sikhs. These brave soldiers and other eminent personalities have written exactly what needed to be said to the powers that be – and at a considerable risk to themselves and their families.

Equally true, even 37 years after the 1984 Sikh genocide, no veteran – with a ring side view – has shown the courage and honesty to publish a book on how the services of Army were called in late during November 1984; how their deployment was delayed; what pressures were put on the soldiers to bid their time on the streets; and at what level in army hierarchy were obstacles created by the political masters of the day. These and other related questions beg an answer; more so because there has been no real reconciliation and peace building process involving the victim community. Not even a formal proper apology has been forthcoming – Manmohan Singh’s utterances in 2004 in Parliament 20 years after the genocide notwithstanding. He appears to have been outsourced to do the most minimal by the remnants of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.

The Indian Armed Forces has 1455550 active personnel and 1155000 reserve personnel (Wiki). Besides there are about 2.6 million ex-servicemen. (Wiki) Yet not one has had his/her conscience pricked over this hidden conspiracy of the then rulers. What about the debt the Indian Army owes to posterity? It could take a cue from Lt. General Zameer Uddin Shah’s memoirs: “The Sarkari Mussalman: The Life and Travails of a Soldier Educationist” released belatedly in 2018 – but nevertheless at least released. This book throws new light on the delay in deployment of the Army during the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat. Zameer was Deputy Chief of Army Staff, Indian Army at that time.

Zameer got a chance to document the events leading to the pogrom. He wrote about Ahmedabad being aflame; fires burning all across the city; about lack of vehicles and logistic support provided; rampaging mobs and police standing as mute spectators; delayed availability of transport, maps, police guides and magistrates; crucial hours lost; hundreds of soldiers and officers witnessing all this; and the official war diaries which had documented the same.

Irrespective of the time elapsed truth must come out. A similar book by a veteran on the 1984 Sikh genocide would be a step towards truth and reconciliation for the Sikh community. Justice of course is too much to hope for!

I do hope that such a book sees the light of the day before I – an Indian first and then a Sikh – exit this world.

P.S.: I have gone through the author background of 21 books written around 1984 violence against Sikhs; if any book written by a veteran has escaped my attention I apologize in advance.

[P.S. Sahni has worked amongst the victims of 1984 anti-Sikh violence along with a group of professionals for 26 months continuously from the first week of November 1984 onwards in a non-funded, non-party way. Also see by the same author: State Sponsored Terrorism Against Sikhs In November 1984 & The Role Of Peace Warriors:Lessons For The Indian Army]

First published on 7/1/2022 @ https://countercurrents.org/2022/01/no-army-veteran-dares-to-publish-how-rulers-ambushed-indian-army-from-preventing-1984-sikh-genocide/

Middle Class Hindus Need To Speak Up Even As Fringe Elements Call The Shots

 

Presently India is fast galloping towards a fascist Hindu state. The Muslim, Sikh, Christian minorities as also the Tribals and Dalits in India are facing threats to their very existence and don’t feel safe anymore.

The dilemma in which middle class Hindus find themselves today is no different from the predicament faced by the same class of Sikhs during the height of militancy in Punjab in 1980s when demand for a theocratic state pushed aside urge for a genuine Federal setup. The Sikh professionals, retired and serving army personnel, religious/spiritual leaders, politicians and other opinion makers were afraid to take a public stance on the issue. True, there were exceptions and some of them paid with their lives. The Sikh community as a whole got labelled as ‘Khalistanis’ by the corporate press leading to its alienation. In a few instances Hindus were selectively targeted by the militants in Punjab. It resulted in simmering anger in the majority community all over India. This got capitalized by the political class to consolidate majority community votes. Rajiv Gandhi government got elected with over 400 seats in parliament. The Sikhs paid a heavy price by way of Operation Blue Star and genocide of Sikhs in 1984 – a term used by the Delhi High Court in its judgement sentencing senior Indian National Congress leader, Sajjan Kumar to life imprisonment.

Indeed there is a lesson to be learnt from the silence of the opinion makers amongst the Sikh community in 1980s. Even though the vast majority of Hindus are peace loving and tolerant; but their failure to take a stance on the process of converting India into a theocratic state needs to be reversed. The opinion makers amongst the majority community will have to stick their necks out. Also, its high time ordinary members of this community muse over the adage:

“Is Chuppi Ko Todo” (Break this silence).

[P.S. Sahni & Shobha Aggarwal are concerned citizens of India.]

First published: https://countercurrents.org/2022/01/middle-class-hindus-need-to-speak-up-even-as-fringe-elements-call-the-shots/

Also at: http://www.kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=113048

‘Toofan Aur Deeya’ (Storm and Lamp) – Why Countercurrents should not get extinguished

Binu Mathew, the editor of Countercurrents.org and the editorial team have been working selflessly with minimal funds and accepting no advertisements. Besides CC abhors foreign institutional funding, corporate funding or government aid. It has been in existence for about two decades and standing on the side of the people and taking an anti-establishment stance. To that extent it is like a lamp pitched against the storm, thus far not extinguished.

It is amazing that with the sort of authors Countercurrents is able to attract, Binu still has to beg to collect one million rupees to run the web portal. All around one sees heavily funded NGOs taking centre stage in the name of civil society. I find it shocking that there are well funded centers which finance and file public interest litigations in India. PIL has become an industry! All through one had felt that local resources and local human power should be utilized for any campaign/movement. In fact funding (both foreign as well as governmental) is principally responsible for subverting/hijacking peoples’ campaigns and movements globally. This pattern came into existence in India after Mrs. Gandhi’s Internal Emergency period. She realized that the best way to keep activists at bay is to get them hooked on to funded work so that protest politics withers away. Which it has. The radicalism projected in the articles carried by CC is not matched by the liberal heartedness in ensuring that funds for CC get collected without much fuss.

In a very humble way we opted for the non-funded route over the last four decades. For this reason we would like to see that CC continues to function. We see CC as a poor man’s EPW. True it is pitted against journals which receive huge funds annually for their existence. Most progressive journals online with radical editors I personally know for forty years are receiving crores of rupees from the corporate sector. CC has to compete and outwit these journals even as it fights an emerging Hindu Rashtra/fascism in India. It reminds one of the title song of the Hindi film ‘Toofan Aur Deeya’ viz ‘nirbal ki ladai balwaan se’ soulfully rendered by the inimitable Manna De, which recurs several times during the film highlighting the exigent situation the protagonist is faced with. The song conveys the sublime message of hope and belief that with determination and unstinting efforts no adversity is impossible to overcome.

You can support Countercurrents here https://countercurrents.org/subscription/

[P.S. Sahni is a member of AIDS Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan and PIL Watch Group. Both groups are non-funded.)