Staines bedfellows

Hindu and Christian bodies that fought over Graham Staines's murder don't mind joining hands to fight hc judgment decriminalising gay sex

Hindu and Christian bodies that fought over Graham Staines's murderu00a0 don't mind joining hands to fight hc judgment decriminalising gay sex

Politics and religion make strange bedfellows. More so, if the issue at hand has to do with Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalised homosexuality, till a Delhi High Court ruling on July 2 read down the article.

United

The Utkal Christian Council (UCC) from Orissa, which has been at the forefront of protests against the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, and the Krantikari Manuwadi Morcha (KMM), which once gave an election ticket to Dara Singh, the man who killed Staines and his sons, stand united in their opposition to the high court ruling. Both have filed petitions opposing the Delhi High Court's ruling on Article 377.

Vikram Doctor, founder, Gay Bombay, a representative body of homosexuals, said, "It's disgusting. People like the UCC and KMM, who are driven by hatred, are the same.

Advocate BD Das, legal advisor and board member, UCC, said, "Such acts are forbidden in our religion. If the KMM takes the same stand, we don't mind aligning with them.

Out in the Open: Participants during the gay parade in Mumbai in August.

Transgendered people may behave that way, but we are against normal people who behave in an abnormal manner," said Das.

KMM founder Ram Kumar Bhardwaj echoed Das's views. "We are fighting against the move to legalise the abnormal behaviour of human beings.
u00a0
We welcome everyone who wants to join our fight. We don't even mind aligning with our jaani dushmans (UCC)," Bhardwaj said.

597
The number of votes Ram Kumar Bhardwaj, the KMM leader, got in the 2004 Assembly election

1965
The year Christian missionary Graham Staines first came to Orissa

2003
The year in which Dara Singh was convicted for leading the gang that killed Graham Staines and his two sonsu00a0

Section 377

Chapter XVI, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code is a piece of legislation introduced during British rule of India that criminalises sexual activity "against the order u00a0of nature".

The section was read down to decriminalise same-sex behaviour among consenting adults in a historic judgement by the High Court of Delhi on July 2.

Section 377 continues to apply in the case of sex involving minors and u00a0u00a0coercive sex.

It was drafted in 1860 by Lord Macaulay as a part of the colonial project of regulating and controlling the British-and Indian-origin subjects.

Graham Staines Murder

Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons Philip (9) and Timothy (7) were burnt alive while they were sleeping in their wagon in Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district in Orissa in January 1999.

In 2003, the Hindu activist Dara Singh was convicted of leading the gang that undertook the massacre.