India: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2004

[Guest guest]

Excerpts from the US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in

India.(Moderator)

Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination

Section 377 of the Penal Code punishes acts of sodomy, buggery and bestiality;

however, the law is commonly used to target, harass, and punish lesbian, gay,

bisexual, and transgender persons. Human rights groups stated that gay and

lesbian rights were not viewed as human rights in the country.

Gays and lesbians faced discrimination in all areas of society, including

family, work, and education. Activists reported that in most cases, homosexuals

who do not hide their orientation were fired from their jobs. Homosexuals also

faced physical attacks, rape, and blackmail. Police have committed these crimes

and used the threat of Section 377 to ensure the victim did not report the

incidents. The overarching nature of Section 377 allowed police to arrest gays

and lesbians virtually at will, and officers used the threat of arrest to

ensure no charges would be filed against them.

On September 2, the Delhi High Court dismissed a legal challenge to Section 377

of the Indian Penal Code. Plaintiffs filed the case in June 2001 after police

arrested four gay and lesbian rights workers at the NAZ Foundation International

and National Aids Control Office premises in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, for

conspiring to commit " unnatural sexual acts " and possessing " obscene material "

which was reportedly safer-sex educational materials construed as pornography.

The AIDS workers were kept in captivity for more than 45 days and were refused

bail twice before it was granted by the

High Court. The Court ruled that the validity of the law could not be challenged

by anyone " not affected by it, " as the defendants had not been charged with a

sex act prohibited by law.

Homosexuals have been detained in clinics for months and subjected to treatment

against their will. The NAZ Foundation filed a petition with the NHRC regarding

a case in which a man was subjected to shock therapy. The NHRC declined to take

the case, as gay and lesbian rights were not under its purview.

Authorities estimated that HIV/AIDS had infected approximately 4½ million

persons, and there was significant societal discrimination against persons with

the disease. According to the ILO, 70 percent of persons suffering from HIV/AIDS

faced discrimination.

In Ahmedabad in April, an HIV positive woman committed suicide at her home after

allegedly being harassed by her co-workers. HRW said that many doctors refused

to treat HIV-positive children, and that some schools expelled or segregated

children because they or their parents were HIV-positive. Many orphanages and

other residential institutions rejected HIV-positive children or denied them

housing.

In January, a Mumbai High Court ruling determined that HIV-positive persons

could not be fired. There was no information available on the implications of

this ruling at year's end.

India

U.S. Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2004

Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

February 28, 2005

[Guest guest]

Dear FORUM,

By giving publcity to the US Human rights report you are giving

legitimacy to this report. By the way, American policy-making in south Asia

relies heavily on the strategic propaganda about India in the US and in India.

US is the worst perpetrator of Human: Eg: Rights abuses. for a few examples " :

1. US is the only country to have used Atomic bombs. And even now

has enought to wipe out any life of this earth

2.. http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_2638847

Prisoner Abuse: U.S. human rights report skirts torture of terror

suspects

When the USA brings out such report it is like the pot calling the

kettle black.It is just that USA has a big and effecitve mouth

picec (media). Unfortunatley, in the present circumstance the

person/team with the loudest voice wins the arguement.

I think we have enough watch groups and human rights commissions in

India to look at the human rights abuses with in our country. We

dont need a USA to tell us what is wrong with us.

Vijay Kandula

E-mail: <emailreddy@...>