The Impulses and their selection - in the matter of Homosexuality

The Delhi High Court in it's Judgment on the sensitive subject of Homosexuality had, in July 2009, upheld that a part of the provision in the Article which laid down that having sexual relation between two individuals of same sex even if by mutual consent is illegal, is a violation of certain articles in the constitution that lay down the Fundamental Rights
guaranteed under Articles 14, 15, 19 & 21 of the Constitution of India of an Individaual and hence ultra vires. The Judgment declared that ..." We declare that section 377 of IPC in so far as it criminalizes consensual sexual acts of adults in private is violative of Articles 21 [Right to Protection of Life and Personal Liberty], 14 [Right to Equality before Law] and 15 [Prohibition of Discrimination on Grounds of Religion, Race, Caste, Sex or Place of Birth] of the Constitution."

The Religio Political Leaders had thoroughly misunderstood the verdict & had stepped in with their comments and fervent reaction then as if the Court by virtue of the judgement had stepped into their turf. Article 377 had termed such acts of homosexuality a punishable offence to the extent of punishable by either Life Imprisonment or Imprisonment upto Ten Years with Fine. Like many of our enactments the precursor of this provision was a provision introduced by Lord Macaulay nearly a hundred and fifty years ago in the Penal Code that carnal attraction and intercourse by and between individuals against the laws of the nature was a severly punishable offence.

Surprisingly it is not mere moral policing, but considered in the perspective of today's world it is  much more than that. It is in effect peeking into or behind the closed doors of an individual's bedroom in the intimate matter of what a person does or does not do on sexual preferences.

And what is more annoying and laughably frustrating is the argument given by social moral police that the judgement in effect would promote the demonstration of such preferences and thereby vitiate the family values and age long tenets on which the foundation of family lies. Primitive classical apprehension of the section of society that prefers to live in the cocoon of what they term as fundamental behaviorial tenets.

The myth of such argument is self defeating as it admits that the preference exists, and because of that they fear that the judgement would promote the "Demonstration" and at the same time makes effort to deny it's existence like the Ostrich pushing its face in sand by trying to say that don't let the matter have a rightful place in the domain of civility. Rather let it be concealed and suppressed to let it become a sore and then take the primeval action of Macaulay era by ostracizing the protagonists.

A PIL plea by Delhi-based non-government organisation Naz Foundation had been filed alleging that Section 377 provision criminalizing sexual acts between consenting adults in private violated Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21 of the Constitution. The sane and rational judgment declares that "the provisions of Section 377 will continue to govern non-consensual penile non-vaginal sex and penile non-vaginal sex involving minors." 

Do we or do we not want a society that has the right approach of selecting to agree or disagree on issues in life without the sanctimonious acrimony from the quarters that have a stake in such policing and the instruments of Society that have a market in such environment. After all we are a civilized lot. 

Recapitulation of Assumptions

As I said yesterday that it is unlikely that the government would  want a direct decision on lokpal through voting, as they were aware of number games. The fact that the number games were in recent times subject to so much prevarications - starting right from the time of Narasimha Rao govt and Sibu Soren episode - that it was not desirable to have any truck with it. Moreover for the Govt. at the risk of a little loss of face which can be dealt so long as their never given due great Assets  like the FM are around and the fact that public memory is short coupled with the fact that Congress of late are developing the tendency of an Ostrich who assails a storm by putting its face in sand, it was no wonder that either way it was a win win proposition (they believed)for them (read the Royal Family and its closest aides).
Otherwise how could they draft a bill of lokpal whose selection will be in the hands of three politicians and sitting in the Parliament, to be endorsed by another politician statesman handpicked and elected by the same politicians, when the entire street show against corruption started from the plank of political corruption aiding and abetting the down the line corruption in bureaucracy and police, not to mention the issue of corruption in Judiciary which admittedly brings to the fore the consideration on Judicial Accountability Bill.
The Rajya Sabha  session ended without any decision, as was expected, with the Govt. asking for more time for reconsideration on the subject of amendments proposed. So lokpal again goes back to the archives of Proposed Bills that never became Laws.
Its a sad time for Indian Democracy, and once again I have to admit with grudging admiration that Politics reigns supreme.

Winter - Winter - where are You

The Year is not yet over & the New Year is eagerly waiting round the corner block - less than 72 hours away. But in this part of India winter seems to have gone away riding on the sleigh of Santa - as if he had sent back his sleigh a few days after his visit & sent winter away on some different errand.
Minimum Temperature has risen to 17 degrees from 10.6 and the woolen are back in the closet since last two days.
Why the nature is becoming so fickle minded? The only thing remaining is having a flash flood in Purulia and then the fickleness would be complete. Nature has become worse than a jealous concubine, doing something that is either in excess of desired level or in stark deficit. And our perception of the doomsday predictions get stronger and stronger -  the Race deserves what they have done to the Nature. And in the ultimate count no one is ready to own up the responsibility by degrees commensurate to the damage perpetrated by development. So it is once again a game of post formulation responsibility fixing and drawing pound of flesh. We have a wonderful body that presides - directly or indirectly - to cater to such formulations giving them international acceptance and in case of failure - the ultimate weapon of sanctions to make the errant ones ( as per perception of the select few) to fall in line.
The World is not enough for some.

Anna's War - the Stake - the Players - the Beneficiary

History would mention the term Janlokpal. It had been in the back burner since last forty years. Introduced in Parliament in 1968 by Shanti Bhusan, one of the present Team Anna Member Prashant Bhusan's father, had been passed in Lok Sabha but defeated in Rajya Sabha in 1969.
History seems to be get repeated in 2011. But with murkier fiasco at the lower house. The bill could not master even the simple majority to become an issue for consideration of constitutional amendment. And it is to be presented to Rajya Sabha tomorrow. What appears murkier is that Government does not seem too keen to put it for a straight voting, as a defeat would obviously by infeence give the impression that the government neither have majority in lower house nor upper house, and consequently it can be a tremendous loss of face amounting to a call for resignation. They cannot afford it.
On the other hand if the improbable happens, i.e. say it gets through then it becomes a law. From the current scenario it seems highly probable that it would get challenged in the forum of the Highest Court of Land. Then what happens? In spite of its being a law it would not become effective as one because the validity would get challenged and subject to evaluation by the Highest Judicial authority, and since the law would not have the status of a constitutional amendment its status would effectively lessened to  that extent in the eyes of law as the enactment.
So what happens to the fight against corruption which is the bane of our country. It gets mired into a Legal Battle for right or wrong, and in the meanwhile corruption continues. Sad but the stark truth - Politics reign supreme.