Chitra Palekar and allies of the LGBT community celebrate the Supreme Court’s verdict that read down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a British-era law that criminalised consensual, adult, same-sex relationships and fostered a climate of fear and discrimination against the entire community at an NGO in Mumbai. A year ago, the apex court handed victory to 34 people who had challenged the draconian law. (Francis Mascarenhas / REUTERS)
The awareness towards LGBT issues in India began with the publication of ‘Less than Gay,’ a report on the status of homosexuality in the country, brought out by Aids Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan (ABVA) in the year 1991. The following year, India’s first known gay protest was held outside Delhi Police headquarters. (HT Archive)
Another move towards challenging section 377 was made by ABVA in 1994, when they filed a writ petition to demand that condoms be made available to inmates of Tihar Jail in New Delhi. Bedi, then the superintendent of Tihar Jail, had refused to allow health workers to distribute condoms to male inmates. (Girish Srivastava / HT Archive)