In a plea to the Supreme Court in 2016, five leading petitioners-a journalist, a chef, a dancer, a hotelier and a business consultant-asked the court to declare the law unconstitutional saying it violated their “rights to sexuality, sexual autonomy, choice of sexual partner, life, privacy, dignity and equality,” along with other fundamental rights that the India’s constitution guarantees to all its citizens.Īn expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.Īrrest of JD. It stated that anyone having “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” shall be punished with imprisonment as well as a fine. In India, the law banning gay sex was a provision in the Indian penal code that British rulers introduced in 1860. The first in Mehta’s Elements trilogy of films, Fire is one of India’s. I can’t discuss queer Indian women in film without bringing up Fire, directed by Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta. Until Thursday’s court ruling, India-the largest democracy in the world-was among more than 70 countries including Afghanistan, Nigeria, Syria, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, where gay sex is illegal, according to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, a Geneva-based rights group. Here are four wonderful films made by Indian filmmakers that put queer Indian women and their stories at the forefront.
