I endorse.

Sukla Sen
Life Fellow, Indian Academy of Social Sciences, Allahabad

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?created&&suggest&note_id=232112560436

Please write to <niveditamenon2...@yahoo.co.uk> to be a part of the
campaign.

Sukla

Friends,

I am writing to you, academics from all over India, to share my disquiet
about the backlash from "religious leaders" against the recent Delhi High
Court judgement reading down Section 377 to exclude consensual sex among
adults in private. And now that the issue is in Supreme Court the
government has started making noises about "we need to take into account
what society feels" etc. But we are society too, and these "religious
leaders" dont really represent anybody (who does Baba Ramdev represent,
people who watch TV?). (It is another matter that the government does not
feel the need to take into account what society feels before passing the
SEZ Act, e.g.)

It struck me that if we, as academics, could issue a brief statement
welcoming the High Court judgement and its validation of the
Constitution, we would demonstrate that "Indian society" speaks in many
voices, including ours. It is crucial that we make our opinion visible
immediately since the appeal has gone to the Supreme Court.
I have drafted a brief statement (below) that I request you to read and
endorse if you feel you can, along with your affiliation. I assure you it
will make an impact. If you would like to tweak/revise the statement in
any way, do send your suggestions. But please remember the statement has
to be brief, so we cant make *all* our views clear here, and do respond
within a couple of days - by Tuesday evening (14th). The statement already
has a few signatures, and the list is growing.

Thanks,

Nivedita




Statement
---------------


We, teachers from universities all over India, researchers and
academics, welcome the Delhi High Court judgement reading down Section
377 of the Indian Penal Code to decriminalize consensual sex among
adults in private. The judgement held that “Section 377 IPC, insofar
as it criminalises consensual sexual acts of adults in private, is
violative of Articles 21, 14 and 15 of the Constitution.” In other
words, the court believes that continuing to criminalize citizens on
the grounds of their sexual preference violates the Fundamental Rights
to life and personal liberty, to equality, and the right not to be
discriminated against on non-relevant grounds.

Sexual preference and identification is only one part of people’s
identities. We believe that a modern democracy must respect diversity
regardless of whether consensus exists in society on the desirability
of each such practice, provided such practices respect the personhood
of others. There need not be consensus in society, for instance, on
vegetarianism as desirable, provided that vegetarians have full
opportunities to follow their dietary preference. Similarly, if
“religious leaders” believe that homosexuality is not sanctioned by
the scriptures, they have the right to propagate their views, provided
that these views are not taken as having the final sanction on the
issue for society as a whole.

Our community has had a hitherto silent engagement with the pain,
harassment, fear and discrimination that comes with being
non-heterosexual/queer. We know students, colleagues, friends and
family members who are queer, or may be queer ourselves.

We state emphatically that Section 377 as it exists is
anti-democratic, and reiterate our support for the Delhi High Court
judgement.

1. Nivedita Menon, Professor, School of International Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University
2. Ranjani Mazumdar, Associate Professor of Cinema Studies, School of
Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University
3. Shahana Bhattacharya Assistant Professor, Department of History,
Kirori Mal College, Delhi University
4. Aditya Nigam, Fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi
5. Mohinder Singh Fellow, IIAS, Shimla and Assistant Professor,
Department of Political Science, Ramjas College, Delhi University
6. Parth Shil, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science,
Hindu College, Delhi University
7. Pratiksha Baxi, Assistant Professor, Centre for Law and Governance,
Jawaharlal Nehru University
8. Janaki Srinivasan,Assistant Professor, Department of Political
Science, Panjab University
9. PK Datta, Professor, Department of Political Science, Delhi University
10. Mohan Rao, Professor, Centre of Social Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru
University
11. Satish Deshpande, Professor, Dept of Sociology, Delhi School of
Economics, Delhi University

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