The youth of today are going to be the ones who will be inhabiting the country in the coming years, and hence, they will be the ones bearing the baton of change in the country. We talk to a few people, across the sexuality and gender spectrum, irrespective of their identity, and try to gauge their views on Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and why it needs to go.
Section 377 needs to be turned over. Not only is it foolish, but it also is a clear violation of human rights. Freedom to love and freedom in love is essential for a nation to move forward.
–Priyankur Sengupta, Student, Seth Anandaram Jaipuria College
Section 377 should be removed as it violates the basic privacy of the person. IPC Section 377 is baseless. It should go back.
– Jaismita Alexander, Student, Women’s Christian College
It should obviously go because sexuality is in no one’s hands. We respect everybody’s thoughts, and we cannot kill anyone’s freedom because it is out of the social order.
– Susmita Sarkar, Student, Asutosh College
I totally want 377 to go because I think it is someone’s personal choice whom on wants to be with. The law cannot tell me what I should be doing in my bedroom. Honestly, the country has a lot more problems to deal with rather than digging its nose in people’s love life.
– Rohinee Chakraborty, Student, Asutosh College
377 curbs my basic right to live. It doesn’t curve privilege, it curbs human rights. 377 needs to go, and it will.
-Anubhav Chakraborty, Student, Maharaja Monindrochandra College
Some of the more common arguments- 377 criminalises sodomy (carnal intercourse against the order of nature- very vague). Gay people are a historically disadvantaged community (if there is any community, that is) – they could do without the state sponsored homophobia. Similarly situated people be treated alike. Besides that, privacy concerns. The section is based on a particularly repugnant notion of gender roles- and belongs to a time when the State could tell a person what to (or what not to) shove up his arse
–Harshit Pande, Student, National Law University, Odisha
Personally, I feel it should be rid of because it is the violation of the very fact of being human. In case of India, the ancients allowed what the law restricts and criminalizes and we should all learn from the ancients as it is the legacy we carry. Moreover, true freedom comes when people are doing what they want and continue to be happy in their own way. If some man made law is restricting that, it should be disposed of immediately.
-Debrishi Sarkar, Student, Future Campus School
We clearly understand the disparity between the constantly echoing voices of the stakeholders of the country, and the lawmakers and the judiciary. Queer politics has come a long way in its execution, and the fight against oppression is stronger than ever before. As we await the SC hearing tomorrow, we must not ignore our role in this fight. Show them that we exist, we live, and we deserve a recognition in the social order. #GoBack377