(Delhi, January 11, 2006) - New arrests of gay men in Lucknow, India-the
scene of a case in 2001 that drew worldwide protests-show that India’s
colonial-era sodomy law continues to threaten human rights and encourage
the spread of HIV, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Prime
Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

" Lucknow police have a shameful record of harassing gay men as well as
non-governmental organizations that work with them. They are able to do
so because India’s government clings to the criminalization of
homosexual conduct, which only prevents people from coming forward for
HIV/AIDS testing, information, and services. "
Scott Long, director of Human Rights Watch’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and
Transgender Rights Program.

On January 4, Lucknow police arrested four men on charges of operating a
“gay racket” on the Internet, as well as of engaging in “unnatural” sex.
Police claim they seized the men while having a picnic in a public
place, and accused them of belonging to an “international gay club”
centered around the Internet website guys4men.com, on which gay men can
place personals and engage in Internet chat. Reports received by Human
Rights Watch indicate that undercover police, posing as gay on the
website, entrapped one man, then forced him to call others and arrange a
meeting where they were arrested.

“Lucknow police have a shameful record of harassing gay men as well as
non-governmental organizations that work with them,” said Scott Long,
director of Human Rights Watch’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
Rights Program. “They are able to do so because India’s government
clings to the criminalization of homosexual conduct, which only prevents
people from coming forward for HIV/AIDS testing, information, and
services.”

In July 2001, Lucknow police, apparently spurred by an informer, raided
the local offices of two nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working on
HIV/AIDS prevention, the Naz Foundation International (NFI) and Bharosa
Trust. Four staff members were jailed for 47 days in deplorable
conditions, accused of running a gay “sex racket.” Police declared the
HIV/AIDS-related information materials seized in the raided offices
“obscene.” They charged the men under India’s sodomy law, criminal
conspiracy, aiding and abetting a crime and the sale of obscene
materials. After international condemnation of the detention of the
“Lucknow Four,” the case was eventually dropped.

In a 2002 report, Epidemic of Abuse, Human Rights Watch documented how
India’s sodomy law has been used to harass HIV/AIDS prevention efforts,
as well as sex workers, men who have sex with men, and other groups at
risk of the disease. Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, titled “Of
Unnatural Offences,” punishes “carnal intercourse against the order of
nature” with up to ten years’ imprisonment. It was introduced by British
rulers in the nineteenth century.

A challenge to section 377’s constitutionality was brought was brought
before the Delhi High Court in 2001 by the Naz Foundation India, asking
the court to declare the law should no longer apply to consenting
adults. In response, the then government stated that “The purpose of
section 377 of IPC is to provide a healthy environment in the society by
criminalising unnatural sexual activities.” The case ended indecisively,
and litigation is still pending.

“Section 377 strikes at the basic right to privacy,” said Long. “This
case shows how it is used against rights to free expression and to
meeting in a public place. It casts a pall over public health efforts.”

Human Rights Watch said that India’s constitution protects the right to
equality, freedoms of speech and assembly and right to personal liberty.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to
which India acceded in 1979, guarantees freedom from discrimination. In
the case of Toonen v. Australia in 1994, the United Nations Human Rights
Committee held these protections against discrimination in all areas of
rights should be understood to include sexual orientation.