Last Year, More Than 200 Children Were Arrested Under India’s Homosexuality Ban

Rajanish Kakade/Hindustan Times via Getty

Half were under the age of 15

by Cody Gohl  

9/30/2016

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At least 207 teens and children were arrested under India’s anti-homosexuality law in 2015, two years after the country’s Supreme Court recriminalized same-sex relations. 

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 96 of those arrested were age 16 to 18, 100 were between 12 and 15, and 11 were under 12.

Ramesh Pathania/Mint via Getty Images)

 Section 377 of the Indian penal code was established by British colonialists in the 1860s, making “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” against the law.

In 2009, the Delhi High Court overturned the ban, declaring it against the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution. But four years later, the country’s Supreme Court reversed itself and reinstated the law, recriminalizing all sexual acts except for missionary sex between heterosexual partners. 

Anyone found engaging in “deviant” sexual activities can face upwards of 10 years in prison. 

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Activists petitioned the Supreme Court to once again abolish Section 377, but the high court refused to hear the challenge. 

A 2015 poll indicated that 95% of Indians support legalizing homosexuality.

“People are becoming possessive about their freedom to love and this is one kind of possessiveness everyone should support,” said pollster Sharif D. Rangnekar. “It spreads love and not hatred and that is a good enough reason to respect such choices and not interfere with them.”

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