On the SC judgement on Sec 377

It is with deep shock and disappointment that we received the regressive judgment of the Supreme Court dated 11-12-13, on the reading down of Section 377 of the IPC related to the rights of queer (lesbian bisexual gay and transgender…) people in this country, which reverted the decriminalisation of non-normative sexualities following the Delhi High Court judgement in 2009.

The Delhi High Court had based its expansive judgement on the eloquent discussion of constitutional morality by the framers of our Constitution, especially Dr. Ambedkar. Constitutional morality, they argued is the basis for equality of citizens since public morality which is largely the morality of the dominant forces in society can never guarantee democracy, and perhaps even more importantly equality and dignity to its citizens, especially its most marginal citizens. Additionally, The Delhi High Court judgement evoked the spirit of dignity, inclusiveness and non-discrimination, thereby emphasizing equality of all citizens that Nehru spoke of during the Constituent Assembly debates, so necessary for the deeply hierarchical social fabric that our country represents.

We, the undersigned teachers at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences express solidarity with the struggle for the recognition of the basic human and democratic rights of LGBT citizens and for our right to self-determination in keeping with the foundational principles of the Indian Constitution.

In solidarity,

1)    Meena Gopal, Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies, School of Development Studies.

2)    Wandana Sonalkar, Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies, School of Development Studies.

3)    Asha Achutan, Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies, School of Development Studies.

4)    Bindhulakshmi, Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies, School of Development Studies.

5)    Sangita Tosar, Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies, School of Development Studies.

6)    K.C. Bindu, Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies, School of Development Studies.

7)    Ilina Sen, Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies, School of Development Studies.

8)    Nishi Mitra, Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies, School of Development Studies.

9)    Zeba Imam, Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies, School of Development Studies.

10)Sujata Chavan, Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies, School of Development Studies.

11)Anjali Monteiro, Centre for the Study of Contemporary Culture, School of Media and Cultural Studies.

12)K.P. Jayasankar, Centre for Critical Media Praxis, School of Media and Cultural Studies.

13)Shilpa Phadke, Centre for the Study of Contemporary Culture, School of Media and Cultural Studies.

14)Faiz Ullah, Centre for the Study of Contemporary Culture, School of Media and Cultural Studies.

15)Nikhil Titus, Centre for Critical Media Praxis, School of Media and Cultural Studies.

16)Ketaki Ranade, Centre for Health and Mental Health

17)Roopa Madhav, School of Habitat Studies

18)Trupti Jhaveri Panchal, Centre for Equity for Women, Children & Families, and Special Cell for Women & Children Maharashtra & Resource Centre for Interventions on Violence Against Women (RCI-VAW)

19)Taranga Sriraman, Vinita Ajgaonkar, Yashoda Pradhan, Manisha Kande (Resource Centre for Interventions on Violence Against Women)

20)Sivakami Muthusamy, Centre for Health and Social Sciences, School of Health Systems Studies.

21)Nilesh Gawde, School of Health System Studies

22)Vijayakumar, Centre for Social and Organisational Leadership

23)Lata Narayan, Centre for Lifelong Learning.

24)Tejaswini Niranjana, Centre for Indian Languages in Higher Education.

25)Monica Sakhrani, Centre for Social Justice and Governance

26)Bal Rakshase, Centre for Health Policy Planning and Management, School of Health Systems Studies.

27)Shalini Bharat, Centre for Health and Social Sciences, School of Health Systems Studies.

28)Sanjay (Xonzoi) Barbora, TISS, Guwahati

29)R. Ramakumar, School of Development Studies

30)Manish Jha, Centre for Community Organisation and Development Practice, School of Social Work

31)Mahuya Bandyopadhyay, School of Development Studies

32)Anjali Dave, Centre for Equity for Women Children and Families, School of Social Work.

33)Sabiha Vasi, Centre for Lifelong Learning.

34)Rekha Pappu, TISS Hyderabad

35)Padma Velaskar, Centre for Studies in Sociology of Education

36)A. Ramaiah, Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policies.

37)Neela Dabir, Deputy Director, Admn

38)Shubhada Maitra, Centre for Health and Mental Health, School of Social Work.

39)Geeta Sethi, LSE-TISS Chair Professor, School of Health Systems Studies.

40)Vijayaraghavan, Centre for Criminology and Justice

41)Swati Banerjee, Centre for Livelihoods and Social Innovation, School of Social Work.

42)Anil S Sutar, Centre for Research Methodology.

43)Tanveer Hasan, Centre for Indian Languages in Higher Education.

44)Shalini Sharma, TISS Guwahati.

45)Sandhya Limaye, Centre for Disability Studies and Action, School of Social Work.

46)Subharati Ghosh, Center for Health and Mental Health

47)Asha Banu, Centre for Health and Mental Health, School of Social Work.

48)Katy Gandevia, School of Social Work

49)Anil Kumar, Centre for Health and Social Sciences, School of Health Systems Studies.

50)Suryakant Waghmore, Centre for Environment Equity and Justice

51)Leena Abraham, Centre for Studies in Sociology of Education

52)Shivani Chauhan Barooah, Labour Studies and Social Security, TISS Guwahati.

53)Sohini Banerjee, TISS Guwahati

54)Rekha Mammen, Centre for Community Organisation and Development Practice

55)U.Vindhya, TISS Hyderabad

56)Padmini Swaminathan, TISS Hyderabad

57)Priyanka Jawale, School of Law, Rights & Constitutional Governance

58)Surinder Jaswal, School of Social Work & Doctoral Students Office

59)Samhita Barooah, TISS Guwahati

60)Janki Andharia, Jamshedji Tata Centre for Disaster Management

61)Bela Bhatia, TISS

62)Hemal Shroff, School of Health System Studies

63)Nandini Manjrekar, School of Education

64)Sohini Sengupta, TISS

65)Mahima Nayar, Centre for Disability Studies and Action

66)Mouleshri Vyas, Centre for Community Organisation and Development Practice, School of Social Work

67)A. Rambabu, Centre for Studies in Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policies

68)Shankar Das, Centre for Health Policy Planning

69)Jyothi Krishnan, TISS

70)Shahaji Chavan, TISS

71)G G Wankhede, School of Education

72)P.K. Shajahan, School of Social Work

73)Lakshmi Lingam, Deputy Director, Hyderabad

74)T. Jayaraman, School of Habitat Studies

75)S. Parasuraman, Director, TISS

and many other TISS faculty.