Gays, Court & Ethics
After the decision of Central Government not to submit any halafnama in the supreme court in response to the judgement of high court, the matter of gay rights has taken a curious turn. Gays have been part of the society previously too (have you read the story Lihaaf by Ismat Chugtai?) but they were not a vocal community. It is because of the impact of West that they organized themselves as a community and sought legal protection for themselves. Religious leaders have called them insane/of perverted minds going against the laws of nature. Without getting into debate on this point, I would raise one question : why these religious leaders did not approach the court to tell them that it is an issue of ethics and not of law (though an archiac law of British times called it a crime) and thus beyond the scope of judiciary. Otherwise, now court gets the right to interfere in any and every ethical issue. Though the Delhi High Court's verdict has witnessed several contradictory reaction but ...