{"id":3989,"date":"2016-03-15T23:00:25","date_gmt":"2016-03-15T17:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3989"},"modified":"2016-03-15T23:00:25","modified_gmt":"2016-03-15T17:30:25","slug":"homosexuality-crime-general-bipin-rawat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=3989","title":{"rendered":"Homosexuality is Not a Crime. Time to Ask, \u201cBut What about Our Soldiers at the Border\u201d?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\u00a0\n

Y<\/span>esterday, the outdated notions of <\/p>masculinity<\/span><\/a> and morality that are still depressingly prevalent in our country\u2019s institutions were brought to light when Army chief General Bipin Rawat said that despite homosexuality and adultery being decriminalised by the Supreme Court, the army was \u201cconservative\u201d and these practices would not be allowed to \u201cperpetuate in the army\u201d. <\/span>\n\nUnfortunately, he isn\u2019t wrong. Though the Supreme Court repealed the laws on adultery and <\/span>homosexuality<\/span><\/a>, or more precisely, \u201cunnatural\u201d sex, in two landmark judgements last year, they are still illegal under the Indian Army Act, 1950, and considered punishable offences with a jail term of upto 10 years. So yes, <\/span>technically<\/span><\/i>, he is still well within his rights to \u201cdeal with them under various sections of the Army Act\u201d. And while he couched his pigheaded, regressive statements with the qualifiers that the army is \u201ccertainly not above the country\u2019s law\u201d, realistically, it took over a decade\u2019s worth of activism for two 158– and 154-year-old draconian laws to be struck down. So one can only wonder how long it will take for the army to catch up, especially when the old men in power are so comfortable upholding the highly discriminatory status quo. \u00a0<\/span>\n\nIncidentally, The Air Force Act, 1950, and the Navy Act, 1957, consider homosexuality \u201cunnatural\u201d and a \u201ccruel\u201d act, as well. So, <\/span>General Rawat<\/span><\/a> and others who share his views might thwart basic human decency on a technicality, but they doesn\u2019t have to get a free pass while doing so. \u00a0<\/span>\n\nIf ever there was a legitimate time to trot out the trite \u201cbut what about our <\/span>soldiers<\/span><\/a>?\u201d argument that is always hovering on the lips of anyone taking umbrage to any perceived criticism of the country or the current government, it would be now. <\/span>\n

So yes, technically, he is still well within his rights to \u201cdeal with them under various sections of the Army Act\u201d.<\/blockquote>\nThe brave Indian jawans <\/span>\u2014 <\/span><\/i>men as well as women who serve in inhospitable terrain and extreme conditions \u2014 and the many <\/span>hardships<\/span><\/a> they endure as they stand guard at the border, willing to take a bullet on the behalf of us all, have been summoned at lightning speed by many among us, in an attempt to win un-winnable arguments by shaming people into silence. <\/span>\n\nThe sacrifices of the jawan are listed, usually with a grave face, while debating everything from the hardships faced by the country during the poorly executed \u201cwar on black money\u201d that was <\/span>demonetisation<\/span><\/a>, to public scrutiny over the egregious human rights violations committed under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), and much else in between. These jawans have served us tirelessly and well, both at the border, and in the charged intellectual debates we hold on Twitter and TV. They\u2019ve helped us feel secure in our nationalist and patriotic fervour from the comfort of our own homes, while lecturing others to have the decency to suffer without complaint. <\/span>\n\nThe jawan\u2019s plight is of great relevance to every conceivable problem plaguing the country \u2014 every problem, except those that directly affect the lives of the jawans themselves.<\/span>\n\nShamefully, despite our propensity to bring up soldiers in practically every matter of national import, none of us were actually concerned, or even wondered about their rights in passing, until a journalist decided to directly ask General Rawat what the changing legal landscape of the country meant for them. Amid all the revelry last year over the country\u2019s two big steps toward a more humane and equal <\/span>society<\/span><\/a>, we conveniently forgot the soldiers who might still be suffering silently under the terrible burden of being forced to hide their true selves from the very people they are taught to think of as family, the even greater burden of not having agency over their own bodies, and the tragedy of having their right to love someone restricted due to the whims of a group of conservative men. <\/span>\n
These jawans have served us tirelessly and well, both at the border, and in the charged intellectual debates we hold on Twitter and TV.<\/blockquote>\nServing in the defence forces requires grit, will, determination, and the strength to forego many of the rights and freedoms that the rest of us so freely enjoy. But how is it acceptable to snatch away a person\u2019s <\/span>freedom to love<\/span><\/a>, and their right to simply exist, just because a general said so? <\/span>\n\nGeneral Rawat and his cohorts might have the power to create innumerable obstacles on the path to securing the basic fundamental right to life and equality for the LGBTQ+ officers serving in secrecy in the <\/span>army<\/span><\/a>, but even they cannot pretend to be deaf in the face of roaring public opinion. So unless you believe that a soldier\u2019s sacrifice means nothing if he\/she doesn\u2019t wish to copulate in a manner that appeals to your sensibilities, now is the time to ask, over and over again, and loudly, \u201cWhat about the soldiers serving at the borders?\u201d<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The jawan\u2019s plight is of great relevance to every problem plaguing the country from black money to AFSPA \u2013 every problem, except those that directly affect the life of the jawan. Serving in the forces requires the strength to forego many of the freedoms that the rest of us enjoy. But how is it acceptable to snatch away a person\u2019s freedom to love?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":306,"featured_media":3990,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[7323,7324,3295,7325,1019,7320,7326,7321,1102,6409,7327,7328,821,4002],"class_list":["post-3989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pov","tag-afspa","tag-air-force-act","tag-armed-forces","tag-army","tag-demonetisation","tag-gay-sex","tag-general-bipin-rawat","tag-general-rawat","tag-homosexuality","tag-human-rights","tag-jawan","tag-navy-act","tag-section-377","tag-soldier"],"yoast_head":"\nHomosexuality is Not a Crime. 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