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Author Topic: India: anti-gay sex law may be repealed
Hephaestion
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Babbler # 4795

posted 03 February 2006 09:45 PM      Profile for Hephaestion   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
(New Delhi) India's Supreme Court on Friday ordered a new trial in a challenge to the country's laws against sodomy.

Last year the Delhi High Court upheld the sodomy law dismissing a petition by the Naz Foundation, an LGBT rights organization seeking a judicial review of the law.

The court said that gay relationships constituted an "unnatural offence" and that Indian society was not ready for it.

The Foundation appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court. Friday two justices sent the case back to the lower court for reconsideration.

The justices noted that the Delhi court had not bothered to hear arguments before ruling. 

Gays have been fighting the sodomy law with no success for years, Under the law, which dates back to British rule, anyone convicted is sentenced to prison with hard labor. The maximum is ten years behind bars.

The government has fought attempts to challenge the law in court. But following the Supreme Court ruling the government suggested times are changing in India.

[ 03 February 2006: Message edited by: Hephaestion ]


From: goodbye... :-( | Registered: Dec 2003  |  IP: Logged
Stockholm
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posted 06 February 2006 11:02 AM      Profile for Stockholm     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Something like 20% of the world's population lives in India so this would be a major step!
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Hephaestion
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posted 06 February 2006 11:12 AM      Profile for Hephaestion   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Here's a stat that I heard on CBC Radio Overnight last night that might help put it in perspective. The Indian "middle class" is larger than the population of either Europe or North America. Now, granted, the number of gays and lesbians will be much smaller, but even still, in a population that big, it has the potential to affect many, many lives.
From: goodbye... :-( | Registered: Dec 2003  |  IP: Logged

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