IITians file petition against Sec 377

February 04, 2014 13:50

A group of students, alumni, faculty and staff of the Indian Institutes of Technology have signed a petition against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalises gay sex and whose iniquitiousness has been upheld by the Supreme Court of India. The petition has been sent to the prime minister, home minister, law minister, HRD minister, the Chief Justice of India, and directors of all the IITs.

In their petition, the IITians say: 'We reiterate that our concern goes beyond the rights of adults to participate in private acts of consensual sex. It is focused on the public domain, where alternate sexuality and gender identity is often treated as a form of deviance in schools, colleges, workplaces, religious institutions, and governmental institutions. Patriarchy and hetero-normativity are pervasive facts of social life in all parts of the country, including the campuses of elite institutions like the IITs. Women and LGBT individuals among the undersigned have often experienced prejudice in their routine interactions with their classmates, colleagues, professors as well as members of the institute administration, and these experiences of prejudice at close quarters can sometimes be more debilitating than an archaic and distant law.'

The IITians also hold out an assurance: 'While efforts to read down Section 377 and to dispel societal misconceptions must continue, we also re-commit ourselves to protecting the gains made in recent years within IITs to create a more welcoming atmosphere for women and LGBT individuals. While Section 377 has, in the past, relied heavily on social stigma to penalize sexual minorities, we assert that we will not allow ourselves to be used in this manner to discriminate against our own peers. Several support groups for queer students have been established and received official recognition in various IITs in the past two or three years. Their rights of free association are by no means affected by a law that merely criminalizes certain sexual acts.'

Spoken like true IITians, we say! And if you are interested in reading the petition, click here.

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