---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: ponni arasu <[email protected]> Date: Feb 16, 12:24 pm Subject: Thanking A.P.Shah To: queerrights kerala
Dear all, It's been interesting to watch all the reactions to A.P.Shah's unfair retirement. This has been from various quarters including the LGBT community. One must admit, among all the communities whose lives his judgments have attempted to change, we have been rather vocal in thanking him profusely. This is a good trend to set in general as sometimes I feel others working on various issues whose work has been vindicated rather literally by him have not taken the time out to do an analysis and express their gratitude towards the existance of a judge like him, in the otherwise difficult judiciary in this country. This might make a difference to him. He is hurt by the judiciary which he dedicated his life to which has now slighted him through opaque, undemocratic processes, thus going against all that he stands for and what the judiciary claims to stand for. So am glad we are doing this! Even the mainstream media has spoken extensively about his judgment in the 377 case among others. of course! I am writing in to point out that A.P.Shah's judgmenets collectively could be an interesting accumulated version of a possible worldview/ political vision for Queer (including but not restricted to LGBTIKMH) politics in India. He has in one life time increased the standards of justice for various communities such as same-sex loving people, slum dwellers, rickshaw pullers, 'illegal' residents on city land, and of course Right to Information for all citizens. This could be an oppurtunity for us to look more closely at all of his judgements and see how he made a clear connection between them. His judgments are based on legal rigour, an element of practicality and the values of justice and equality for all. All of this, while holding the state as well as society at large acocuntable to make this ideal a reality. Thus, while we thank him profusely for making our lives a little better, let us also use this oppurtunity to make the connections he made. Why should we make them? Simply becuase these connections are a reality. Same sex loving people are also often rickshaw pullers and slum dwellers and those who need the right to information. It is only such a holistic perspective thats going to make an equal and just world a reality at the end of the day. A.P.Shah has no choice but to know this beyond any doubt as as a judge he was faced with these realities- the limitations of the legal version of them notwithstanding. Even his individual judgments, written with other judges, including the 377 one, does not make a case for rights to individual communities alone but places those rights unabashedly in the context of broader justice and democratic politics. And of course they do because these rights are effective only when connected to each other. The elements of oppression and denial of rights also are effective only when connected to each other. Now comes, whats left for us to do because the struggles to assure these rights will ALSO only be effective if connected to one another. So lets thank A.P.Shah for all that he did. For so many in the world. Because he could not have made lives better for one community (LGBT for instance) without making it better also for another (rickshaw pullers for instance) as that would then be logically and ethically inconsistent. Something for us to think about. Just my two cents. Warmest, Ponni. On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 12:25 PM, Vikram D <[email protected]> wrote: > Shekhar Gupta, the editor of the Indian Express, interviewed A.P.Shah on > his Walk the Talk show, and this has been transcribed in today's Express. > Here's a link to the full interview, where he talks about his S.377 > judgment: >http://www.indianexpress.com/news/i-cannot-pretend-that-im-not-hurt.-... > Its interesting how he shows how he changed his views on the matter, and > also on how important the split between the Home and Health Ministries was > in helping them make up their minds. Much credit is due to HIV activists > like Ashok who pushed behind the scenes to get NACO to push the Ministry of > Health to come out openly on our side. Lets even thank our otherwise > generally unlamented ex Health Minister Dr.Anbumani Ramadoss who, for > whatever reasons of his own, took our side on this issue > And the judge is also right that the pleasant surprise after the verdict > was the muted reaction of the vernacular press. For several days after the > verdict I bought every paper in every main language published in Mumbai and > with the help of friends went through their coverage, and as the judge says, > it was mostly plain reporting. A few did have columnists making derisive > comments in their Sunday editions, but that was balanced by some like > Gujarati MidDay which were really quite supportive - Prince Manvendra, I > think, has had a lot to do with changing the minds of the Gujarati press. > (Some even made special note of the fact that Justice Shah was Gujarati, > though he was born in Solapur). > Several people have posted very moving comments on the GB tribute page to > Justice Shah. These are really worth reading - and worth adding to as well, > so if you haven't done so already, please do consider it. You don't have to > say anything special, just what you felt about what the verdict meant to > you. We've found a way to send the link to Justice Shah, which we'll do > after about a week, so please post your comments soon. Here's the link to > the page: >http://www.gaybombay.org/?p=1334 > And here are the comments from the interview with Justice Shah: > Shekhar Gupta: Of your many judgments which are now hailed as landmark, the > judgment on gay sex is a nuanced one. You set very stringent tests for what > is consensual sex and because of that, it has become nearly impossible to > challenge this now. But tell me a little bit more about what went on in your > mind, how challenging did you find that case. > Justice AP Shah: I must tell you something very interesting. Actually one > of the newspapers reported this. A German delegation had come in ’97 or ’98. > The delegation had some legislators and a few gay activists were also there. > One of the legislators asked me whether the Indian courts would strike down > this law, Section 377. So my reaction was, it would be very tough for an > Indian court. > Shekhar Gupta: In The Indian Express, if I may say so. > Justice AP Shah: Yes, it was quoted in your paper. I never realised that > the case would come before me after 10 years. The peculiar feature of this > case was that the two wings of the government took diametrically opposite > stands. The Health and Family Welfare Ministry took a stand that continuance > of Section 377 was creating hurdles in the HIV-AIDS prevention programme. > And the stand of the Home Ministry was that this Section should be retained > on grounds of public morality. According to me, this was the biggest > challenge. I think ours is the first judgment on constitutional morality. We > said, for instance, that public morality, public perceptions, differ from > time to time. For instance, ‘sati’ was largely approved by the majority, > untouchabilty was approved. > Shekhar Gupta: They all had social sanction. In fact, all awful social > practices survived because they had social sanction. And somebody had to > challenge it. > Justice AP Shah: Correct. So we said that the test to be satisfied is that > of constitutional morality and not public morality. Then there were various > issues, but what we stressed was about the underlying theme of the > Constitution, that is inclusiveness. > Shekhar Gupta: Right. But were you also pleasantly surprised by how little > opposition—besides some noises—the judgment faced from the political class? > Justice AP Shah: This issue was pending for a long time. The judgment was > awaited anxiously. And really, I was surprised by the reaction of the > vernacular press. 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