Justice Backtracks

It was a crossword clue that taught me a valuable lesson.

When I was in my teens , my dad and I were brainstorming one day about solving a cryptic crossword puzzle. One clue had dad racking his brains.. It was “What is of no importance to Oscar Wilde (1,. 5).

“Try A Woman” I said as I knew Wilde had written a play called A Woman of No importance.

Dad who had no clue about that but knew Oscar Wilde was gay ( Wilde was actually a bisexual) went ballistic.

The guy who set the crossword had no business poking his nose into Wilde’s personal life, and must stick to his work alone, he said angrily. Whether Wilde was gay or straight was nobody else’s business.

That day I learnt that what two consenting adults do in their private spaces whether belong to different genders or the same sex, was nobody else’s business except their own.


And I am sure, it should not be the state’s business either.

But the Supreme Court, alas doesn’t think that way. Yesterday it gave a kiss of life to the Article 377 that criminalizes gay relationships that had been given a near-fatal blow by the Delhi High Court.. With one stroke of a judge’s pen thousands, probably lhundreds of thousands of Indians who had been law abiding citizens were transformed overnight into criminals who could be meted punishments upto a life term d for “sexual relationships against the order of nature” . An almost silent minority has again become liable for persecution.


I think the state has better things to do than bother about who is having sex with whom. This law is just impossible to implement. Can you fit a camera in every bedroom to find out whether persons making love there belonged to same sex or different ones.?

A crime is strictly an act that adversely affects someone. How the hell is anybody affected by what two guys are doing consensually between four walls?

The law is a remnant of British colonial rule when Victorian mindset and homophobia ruled the roost. Even the Brits who had introduced the law have become not just tolerant but accepting about such relationship but we are still caught in the colonial groove.

Having said that let me add a “But” here. While I am all for durable gay and straight relationships. Certain things fill me with unease. Remember the Pushkin Chandra murder case in Delhi few years ago? That guy was murdered by boys he had HIRED for sex.

This kind of cash for sex relationships exploiting the poverty of a section of society and luring boys with money is disgusting but it nauseates only as much as picking up girls for cash.. I have no sympathy for gays like Pushkin. They deserve their comeuppance.

Some homophobes may scream that doing away with article 377 would lead to Sodom and Gomorrah being unleashed in India. True if a girl can be raped, by lusty straights, boys can also be sexually molested by lusty gays. For this all we have to do is to extend the definition of rape to victims of forced gay sex as well if it has not been already done./


The constitution of India guarantees us Right to Life. And “Life” here does not just mean right to be alive but right to live our a manner that provides us fulfillment. May the true spirit of that right prevail. Let the Supreme Court revise its Judgment in the light of this spirit..

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Dear Viswa, I am not closing my eyes to the issues. Mindsets din't change overnight but at the same time we cannot wish away the gay community. They exist and will continue to exist. And passing laws to ban gay ties is ridiculous. The law and order machinery has better things to do than hound people who mind their own business. Putting people in the closet is no way to tackle the issue.

 

Such ties have been critized since the rise of semtic faiths like Christianity and Islam. But such persecutions seem mpt only barbaric but absurd in the 21st century. I am sure the law and order machinery has better things to do than go after people whose idea of asex life is different from ours. The law will in no way end homosexuality (It is ridiculous even to think that it could be ended) but send gays into the closet where things will continue as usual.

 

Akila the Supreme Court ruling can make lot of law abiding citizens into criminals overnight and make them target of blackmail and persecution. I think the state should keep its hands off the private lives of citizens.