{"id":2865,"date":"2019-01-11T02:44:19","date_gmt":"2019-01-11T02:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/?p=2865"},"modified":"2019-01-11T03:53:19","modified_gmt":"2019-01-11T03:53:19","slug":"not-acceptable-indian-army-backs-gay-sex-ban-despite-decriminalisation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/2019\/01\/11\/not-acceptable-indian-army-backs-gay-sex-ban-despite-decriminalisation\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Not acceptable&#8217;: Indian army backs gay sex ban despite decriminalisation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">India\u2019s army chief said on Thursday that gay sex and adultery would not be tolerated in the army\u2019s ranks, months after a landmark court ruling struck down&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2018\/sep\/06\/indian-supreme-court-decriminalises-homosexuality\">colonial-era prohibitions against homosexuality and infidelity<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After a decades-long campaign by activists the supreme court last year decriminalised Section 377 \u2013 also known as \u201cunnatural offences\u201d \u2013 and the adultery law from the statue books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But General Bipin Rawat said the military would not permit such acts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn the army, it is not acceptable,\u201d Rawat told reporters at a press conference when asked about the court verdicts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe army is conservative. The army is a family,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">India\u2019s estimated million-strong army and other armed forces are governed by their own laws that restrict certain constitutional rights enjoyed by civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under the Army Act, both homosexuality and adultery are punishable offences, with jail terms of up to 10 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are no figures on homosexuality in the armed forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But media reports show the army is increasingly concerned with adultery \u2013 defined as \u201cstealing the affection of a brother officer\u2019s wife\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The accused are tried by army courts. Last month a court martial found a brigadier guilty of having an affair with a colonel\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He was dismissed from the service and sentenced to three years in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In November, a colonel was sentenced to two years\u2019 loss of seniority after he was found guilty of having a romantic relationship with another officer\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">India\u2019s supreme court overturned the British colonial-era laws after campaigns by activists, who termed both laws as discriminatory and against the fundamental right to equality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Section 377 was introduced in 1861 and carried up to 10 years in prison. Although it was rarely enforced, it was often used to harass and intimidate India\u2019s gay community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The adultery law carried up to five years jail time for a man found guilty of having sex with a married woman without the permission of her husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The court had said the 158-year-old law treated women as \u201cchattel of husbands\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>India\u2019s army chief said on Thursday that gay sex and adultery would not be tolerated in the army\u2019s ranks, months after a landmark court ruling struck down&nbsp;colonial-era prohibitions against homosexuality and infidelity. After a decades-long campaign by activists the supreme court last year decriminalised Section 377 \u2013 also known as \u201cunnatural offences\u201d \u2013 and the adultery law from the statue&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/2019\/01\/11\/not-acceptable-indian-army-backs-gay-sex-ban-despite-decriminalisation\/\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2865"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2866,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2865\/revisions\/2866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}