Whilst convictions under Section 377 were rare, with no convictions at all for homosexual intercourse in the twenty years to 2009, Human Rights Watch have said that the law was used to harass HIV/AIDS prevention activists, as well as sex workers, men who have sex with men, and other LGBT groups. In 1977 Shakuntala Devi published the first study of homosexuality in India. See also: Hijra (South Asia) and Kothi (gender)
#INDIA GAY MEN NUDE FREE#
The Fatawa-e-Alamgiri of the Mughal Empire mandated a common set of punishments for homosexuality, which could include 50 lashes for a slave, 100 for a free infidel, or death by stoning for a Muslim. Women even abandon themselves to the commission of unnatural crimes." The Dutch traveler Johan Stavorinus reported about male homosexuality among Mughals living in Bengal, "The sin of Sodom is not only universal in practice among them, but extends to a bestial communication with brutes, and in particular, sheep. "Amarad Parast" referred to those with preference for young males. Urdu poetry of the late medieval era used the term "chapti" to refer to sex between people of same genders. The biography of Sarmad Kashani published by caretakers of his shrine states that he had fallen for a Hindu boy named Abhai Chand whose father eventually relented and allowed them to be together. Ali Quli Khan was recorded to have homosexual relations with males. The governor of Burhanpur was murdered by a boy servant with whom he tried to be intimate with. The noble class of the Mughals engaged in both homosexuality and pederasty, the latter considered as "pure love" and prevalent among those from Central Asia. Under the Muslim rule, this grew more common with the sultans of the Delhi Sultanate themselves establishing relationships with men despite the prohibitions against it in Sharia. Homosexuality and pederasty was rare in medieval society with Al-Biruni saying that it was greatly disapproved of. Sex between non-virgin women incurred a small fine, while homosexual intercourse between men could be made up for merely with a bath with one's clothes on, and a penance of "eating the five products of the cow and keeping a one-night fast" – the penance being a replacement of the traditional concept of homosexual intercourse resulting in a loss of caste. While homosexual intercourse was not sanctioned, it was treated as a very minor offence, and several kinds of heterosexual intercourse were punished more severely. The Arthashastra, a 2nd century BCE Indian treatise on statecraft, mentions a wide variety of sexual practices which, whether performed with a man or a woman, were sought to be punished with the lowest grade of fine. The ancient Indian text Kamasutra written by Vātsyāyana dedicates a complete chapter on erotic homosexual behaviour. While injunctions on homosexuality's morality are not explicitly mentioned in the religious texts central to Hinduism, the largest religion in India, Hinduism has taken various positions on the topic, ranging from containing homosexual characters and themes in its texts to being neutral or antagonistic towards it. 4 British Colonial period (1858-1947 CE).