To Be OR not To Be.

On 29th June 2008, Delhi held its first ever gay pride march, along with similar gatherings in Bangalore and Kolkata.
On 23rd July 2008, Mumbai high court judge Bikal Nazki said that India’s unnatural sex law should be reviewed.
Recently, Indian health minister Anbumani Ramdoss expressed his support for legalising homosexuality.

Homosexuality in India is generally considered a taboo subject by both Indian society and government. Public discussion of homosexuality in India has been inhibited by the fact that sexuality in any form is rarely discussed openly. But depictions and homosexuality in the Indian news media and by Bollywood, however shows the slight shift in India’s attitude towards the much hushed topic.

Homosexual relations are legally still a crime in India under an old British era statute dating from 1860 called section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalizes “carnal intercourse against the order of the nature.”
There is no legal recognition of the same sex couple under Indian law.

During a recent visit to India by the Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was asked by a journalist what he thought of the new law allowing gay marriage in Canada. His reply was that, ‘there would not be much appreciation for a law like this in India.”
And he went on to talk about how they were culturally very different countries.

Section 377 still remains a debatable issue in India. It would be however, interesting to know that none of the major political parties have endorsed gay rights concern into their official party manifesto. The law continues to be on the books. It is used by some to threaten and blackmail homosexuals. It is also used by police when registering complaints lodged by the parents of the parties involved.
For instance, a lesbian couple that ran away together in Uttar Pradesh were arrested and handed back, despite of both being of legal age by applying this section as the legal basis of their arrest.

India, the largest democracy in the world might have one of the most impressive constitutions, but for a section of its citizens, the right to freedom of speech and expression is denied.