Post by robiszoo on Jun 3, 2008 3:38:33 GMT
Open Letter : Petition against penal code 377, criminalizing
homosexuality in India
p2.voicesagainst377.org/
- scroll to bottom of link to sign petition
Open Letter
From Vikram Seth, author; Swami Agnivesh; Soli Sorabjee, former
Attorney-General; Aditi Desai, sociologist; Nitin Desai, former UN
Under-Secretary General; Captain Lakshmi Sahgal, freedom fighter,
Padma Vibhushan; Siddharth Dube, author, and many others.
To the Government of India, Members of the Judiciary, and All
Citizens,
To build a truly democratic and plural India, we must collectively
fight against laws and policies that abuse human rights and limit
fundamental freedoms.
This is why we, concerned Indian citizens and people of Indian
origin, support the overturning of Section 377 of the Indian Penal
Code, a colonial-era law dating to 1861, which punitively
criminalizes romantic love and private, consensual sexual acts
between adults of the same sex.
In independent India, as earlier, this archaic and brutal law has
served no good purpose. It has been used to systematically
persecute, blackmail, arrest and terrorize sexual minorities. It has
spawned public intolerance and abuse, forcing tens of millions of gay
and bisexual men and women to live in fear and secrecy, at tragic
cost to themselves and their families. It is especially disgraceful
that Section 377 has on several recent occasions been used by
homophobic officials to suppress the work of legitimate HIV-
prevention groups, leaving gay and bisexual men in India even more
defenceless against HIV infection.
Such human rights abuses would be cause for shame anywhere in the
modern world, but they are especially so in India, which was founded
on a vision of fundamental rights applying equally to all, without
discrimination on any grounds. By presumptively treating as
criminals those who love people of the same sex, Section 377 violates
fundamental human rights, particularly the rights to equality and
privacy that are enshrined in our Constitution as well as in the
binding international laws that we have embraced, including the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Let us always remember the indisputable truth expressed in the
opening articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
that "All persons are born free and equal in dignity and rights. . .
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this
declaration, without distinction of any kind."
We will move many steps closer to our goal of achieving a just,
pluralistic and democratic society by the ending of Section 377,
which is currently under challenge before the Delhi High Court.
There should be no discrimination in India on the grounds of sexual
orientation. In the name of humanity and our Constitution, this
cruel and discriminatory law should be struck down.
Sincerely,
Vikram Seth, author; Swami Agnivesh; Soli Sorabjee, former Attorney-
General; Aditi Desai, sociologist; Nitin Desai, former UN Under-
Secretary General; Captain Lakshmi Sahgal, freedom fighter, Padma
Vibhushan; Siddharth Dube, author, and many others.
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -
----------
From Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize Laureate
Cambridge 20 August 2006
A Statement in Support of the Open Letter by Vikram Seth and Others
I have read with much interest and agreement the open letter of
Vikram Seth and others on the need to overturn section 377 of the
Indian Penal Code. Even though I do not, as a general rule, sign
joint letters, I would like, in this case, to add my voice to those
of Vikram Seth and his cosignatories. The criminalization of gay
behavior goes not only against fundamental human rights, as the open
letter points out, but it also works sharply against the enhancement
of human freedoms in terms of which the progress of human
civilization can be judged.
There is a further consideration to which I would like to draw
attention. Gay behavior is, of course, much more widespread than
the cases that are brought to trial. It is some times argued that
this indicates that Section 377 does not do as much harm as we, the
protesters, tend to think. What has to be borne in mind is that
whenever any behavior is identified as a penalizable crime, it gives
the police and other law enforcement officers huge power to harass
and victimize some people. The harm done by an unjust law like this
can, therefore, be far larger than would be indicated by cases of
actual prosecution.
It is surprising that independent India has not yet been able to
rescind the colonial era monstrosity in the shape of Section 377,
dating from 1861. That, as it happens, was the year in which the
American Civil War began, which would ultimately abolish the
unfreedom of slavery in America. Today, 145 years later, we surely
have urgent reason to abolish in India, with our commitment to
democracy and human rights, the unfreedom of arbitrary and unjust
criminalization.
Amartya Sen
homosexuality in India
p2.voicesagainst377.org/
- scroll to bottom of link to sign petition
Open Letter
From Vikram Seth, author; Swami Agnivesh; Soli Sorabjee, former
Attorney-General; Aditi Desai, sociologist; Nitin Desai, former UN
Under-Secretary General; Captain Lakshmi Sahgal, freedom fighter,
Padma Vibhushan; Siddharth Dube, author, and many others.
To the Government of India, Members of the Judiciary, and All
Citizens,
To build a truly democratic and plural India, we must collectively
fight against laws and policies that abuse human rights and limit
fundamental freedoms.
This is why we, concerned Indian citizens and people of Indian
origin, support the overturning of Section 377 of the Indian Penal
Code, a colonial-era law dating to 1861, which punitively
criminalizes romantic love and private, consensual sexual acts
between adults of the same sex.
In independent India, as earlier, this archaic and brutal law has
served no good purpose. It has been used to systematically
persecute, blackmail, arrest and terrorize sexual minorities. It has
spawned public intolerance and abuse, forcing tens of millions of gay
and bisexual men and women to live in fear and secrecy, at tragic
cost to themselves and their families. It is especially disgraceful
that Section 377 has on several recent occasions been used by
homophobic officials to suppress the work of legitimate HIV-
prevention groups, leaving gay and bisexual men in India even more
defenceless against HIV infection.
Such human rights abuses would be cause for shame anywhere in the
modern world, but they are especially so in India, which was founded
on a vision of fundamental rights applying equally to all, without
discrimination on any grounds. By presumptively treating as
criminals those who love people of the same sex, Section 377 violates
fundamental human rights, particularly the rights to equality and
privacy that are enshrined in our Constitution as well as in the
binding international laws that we have embraced, including the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Let us always remember the indisputable truth expressed in the
opening articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
that "All persons are born free and equal in dignity and rights. . .
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this
declaration, without distinction of any kind."
We will move many steps closer to our goal of achieving a just,
pluralistic and democratic society by the ending of Section 377,
which is currently under challenge before the Delhi High Court.
There should be no discrimination in India on the grounds of sexual
orientation. In the name of humanity and our Constitution, this
cruel and discriminatory law should be struck down.
Sincerely,
Vikram Seth, author; Swami Agnivesh; Soli Sorabjee, former Attorney-
General; Aditi Desai, sociologist; Nitin Desai, former UN Under-
Secretary General; Captain Lakshmi Sahgal, freedom fighter, Padma
Vibhushan; Siddharth Dube, author, and many others.
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -
----------
From Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize Laureate
Cambridge 20 August 2006
A Statement in Support of the Open Letter by Vikram Seth and Others
I have read with much interest and agreement the open letter of
Vikram Seth and others on the need to overturn section 377 of the
Indian Penal Code. Even though I do not, as a general rule, sign
joint letters, I would like, in this case, to add my voice to those
of Vikram Seth and his cosignatories. The criminalization of gay
behavior goes not only against fundamental human rights, as the open
letter points out, but it also works sharply against the enhancement
of human freedoms in terms of which the progress of human
civilization can be judged.
There is a further consideration to which I would like to draw
attention. Gay behavior is, of course, much more widespread than
the cases that are brought to trial. It is some times argued that
this indicates that Section 377 does not do as much harm as we, the
protesters, tend to think. What has to be borne in mind is that
whenever any behavior is identified as a penalizable crime, it gives
the police and other law enforcement officers huge power to harass
and victimize some people. The harm done by an unjust law like this
can, therefore, be far larger than would be indicated by cases of
actual prosecution.
It is surprising that independent India has not yet been able to
rescind the colonial era monstrosity in the shape of Section 377,
dating from 1861. That, as it happens, was the year in which the
American Civil War began, which would ultimately abolish the
unfreedom of slavery in America. Today, 145 years later, we surely
have urgent reason to abolish in India, with our commitment to
democracy and human rights, the unfreedom of arbitrary and unjust
criminalization.
Amartya Sen