Dokument #1171260
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
In India, although the Hindu religion does
not forbid homosexuality (CJR Nov./Dec. 1992), it is a criminal act
under the law (ibid.; India Abroad 5 Feb. 1999;
Asiaweek 7 Aug. 1998). Section 377 of the Indian Penal
Code imposes up to life imprisonment for an "unnatural" sexual act
"against the order of nature" (India Abroad 5 Feb. 1999b;
Asiaweek 7 Aug. 1998).
Although no consolidated statistical study
on the gay population has been done in India, gay activists
subscribe to the internationally-accepted figure of 5 per cent
homosexuals in any given male population; in India this would work
out to 1.3 crore (10 million) people (India Today 11 May
1998).
According to a 5 February 1999 India
Abroad article, 99 per cent of India's homosexual community
remains in the closet (India Abroad 5 Feb. 1999a; The
Independent 20 Dec. 1998). Ashok Row Davi, a former Mumbai/
Bombay-based journalist and India's foremost vocal gay advocate
(CJR Nov./Dec. 1992; India Abroad 5 Feb. 1999a), and
Bhupen Kakkar, a 60-year old painter are but two Indians who have
openly acknowledged their homosexuality; the vast majority remain
quiet, submitting to family and societal pressures to marry and
raise a family (India Abroad 5 Feb. 1999a; India
Today 11 May 1998). According to Geeti Thadani, a prominent
lesbian activist, "India is one of the worst countries in the world
in terms of compulsory heterosexuality. ... The whole social
culture is so embedded in getting married-children, the extended
family, grandchildren-that if you reject that there is a whole
policy of insidious exclusion" (The Independent 20 Dec.
1998). Swapan Dasgupta wrote in India Today that
"...Homosexuality... was always an alternative to marriage and
family, but never a socially acceptable solution" (ibid.). At
Mumbai's KEM Hospital's sextology clinic, for example, large
numbers of homosexual men come to "learn how to function in
heterosexual relationships" (India Today 11 May 1998). In
May 1998, India Today reported that although gay activists
in India are "actively counselling urban homosexuals against
marriage," advising those who are already married to stay faithful
to the wife, and if that is impossible, then to come out of the
closet, "homophobia is a reality and examples of discrimination a
dime a dozen" (11 May 1998).
Due to social attitudes towards
homosexuality, gays do not have the opportunities available to
their sexual counterparts in North America to meet other gays and
are, therefore, forced to resort to encounters in parks after dark
(India Abroad 5 Feb. 1999a; India Today 11 May
1998), where they are "preyed upon by crooked policemen who
threaten to book [them] unless they are paid off" (India
Abroad 5 Feb. 1999a).
In the late 1980s India's only gay and
lesbian publication Bombay Dost was launched as a sporadic
underground newsletter, that came above ground as a quarterly in
1991 (CJR Nov./Dec. 1992). Ashok Row Kavi helped launch it
(ibid.).
There exist a few support groups for
homosexuals in India: (1) Hamsafar Trust, whose helpline receives
an average of 80 calls a week, 75 per cent of them from homosexuals
being pressured to marry, or married, or having problems (India
Today 11 May 1998). In May 1998 Hamsafar Trust was planning to
establish a support group for wives of homosexual husbands (ibid.
11 May 1998). The Delhi-based Campaign for Lesbian Rights (CLR) is
a support group for homosexuals, lesbians and heterosexuals who
feel that sexual discrimination is a violation of human rights
(India Abroad 5 Feb. 1999b). In February 1997 Humrahi in
Delhi was founded and its members reportedly meet regularly once a
week (Humrahi n.d). Humrahi also has a counselling service and
publishes an infrequent newsletter called Darpan
(ibid.).
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is
not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any
particular claim to refugee status or asylum.
References
Asiaweek [Hong Kong]. 7 August
1998. "Revolution by Stages; Things are Gradually Getting Better
for Asia's Homosexuals-But Acceptance is Still a Long Way Off."
(NEXIS)
Columbia Journalism Review
(CJR). November/December 1992. Arthur J. Pais. "A Light in the
Closet." [Internet] http://www.cjr.org/year.92/6/india.asp
[Accessed 24 June 1999]
"Humrahi: Forum for Gays at New
Delhi, India." n.d. [Internet] http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Heights/7258
[Accessed 24 June 1999]
The Independent [London]. 20
December 1998. Peter Popham. "Film Breaks Silence of India's
Lesbians." (NEXIS)
India Abroad [New York]. 5
February 1999. Arvind Kala. "Hidden Homosexuals: Fugitives in Their
Own Land." [Internet] http://www.indiaabroad.com
[Accessed 8 Feb. 1999]
_____. 5 February 1999b. Zarin Ahmad.
"Controversial Film Brings Lesbians Out of the Closet." [Internet]
http://www.indiaabroad.com
[Accessed 8 Feb. 1999]
India Today [Delhi]. 11 May
1998. Vijay Hung Thapa et al. "Homosexuals: Sex, Lies, Agony and
Matrimony." (NEXIS)