ucknow Incident 2 12th January 2006
On 3rd January, four men were arrested in Lucknow for being a part of what the Lucknow police called a "gay racket" and were charged under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. Police claimed that there were substantial numbers of men in the city who were a part of this "gay racket" and that further, as the SSP stated at a press meeting, there were HIV/AIDS organisations who were supporting such a racket and he would "deal with these organisations" as he knows what they do. In Lucknow, there are only two such organisations. Bharosa is a local community-based Organisation providing direct HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support services for kothi-identified males and their partners, as well as other `MSM', while Naz Foundation International (NFI), is an international HIV/AIDS technical support agency supporting `MSM' HIV/AIDS interventions in several countries, including India. Headquartered in London, UK, its Regional Liaison Office is based in Lucknow also. Bharosa Human Rights Cell (developed with NFI technical support) in coordination with NFI Regional Office and local NGOs have found out the following through a preliminary investigation: 1. Lucknow police was informed about the website www.guys4men com through their own sources. 2. A profile of N.N. From Lucknow was on the website. 3. The police arrested this person from his residence on the night of 3rd January 2006. 4. The police checked the mobile records of NN. 5. The police picked three names from the mobile records based on the fact that regular calls were made to and from these numbers. 6. The police forced NN to make calls on 4th January 2006 to these individuals and call them to Mahanagar Classic Restaurant individually 7. The police with NN were waiting for these people at the restaurant for these people and arrested AK, PG and PW when they arrived. 8. However the police in its FIR mentions that they were caught having sex in the park and arrested. 9. It appears that there has been no medical examination done on these men even though they have been charged under Section 377 which requires such an examination within 24 hrs of the arrest. 10. In the police FIR, 13 other people have been named with their mobile numbers. 11. Bharosa and NFI Regional Office have been informed through sources that the SSP had made a statement at a Press Meeting (5th January) that he will deal with the HIV/AIDS organisations working "with these people" for "promoting homosexuality". Since the 5th January, Bharosa along with NFI Regional Office Executive Director, has been in communication with a range of police, government officials, UNAIDS, and others, as well as meeting with the various police officials and bureaucrats responsible for law and order, as well as the Project Director of UPSACS to argue that the arrests were illegal, and further, the continued harassment and potential victimisation of so- called "homosexuals" was greatly interfering with Bharosa's outreach work ad threatened the existence of both Bharosa and NFI Regional Office. NFI also was able to get in touch with Peter Piot of UNAIDS Geneva, Denis Broun, Country Director of UNAIDS India, and Mr. JVR Prasada Rao, Director of the UNAIDS Asia Pacific Regional Support Team in Bangkok, along with a number of its Patrons such as Lord Navneet Dholakia in London, as well as the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and government representatives in other countries to address its concerns about the police and official attitudes in UP with regard to providing prevention, support and care services for `MSM'. Over the last three days, the National Campaign for Sexuality Rights initiated a fact finding team which visited Lucknow. The team included Mr. E Manohar a human rights activist from Bangalore; Arvind Narain Alternate Law Forum; Vivek Diwan Human Rights lawyer; Jashodhara Dasgupta Sahyog representative; Tulika Srivastava ALLI representative; Maya Sharma PRAMA representative. The team of six has completed their fact finding mission, and their report was released to the press in Lucknow on the 12th January, 2006. Currently, the original four men are still in jail under judicial custody. Bharosa Human Rights Cell has pleaded bail for one of these men (who did not have their own lawyers). For the other three men their lawyers are handling the case. The threatening attitude and possible harassment of both NFI Regional Office and Bharosa by local police is very distressing, particularly when the National AIDS Control Organisation itself is planning to scale up targeted interventions for vulnerable populations in the country. One outcome already achieved by the work of NFI and Bharosa in this current situation has been that UNAIDS in India is now actively working with the local law enforcement establishment to organise a seminar (s) for the police and bureaucrats in Lucknow and UP, on government HIV/AIDS policy and targeted interventions with MSM which will involve both Bharosa and NFI Regional Office as well. Further in the last few days, protests and campaigns against the arrests of the men in Lucknow have been held in a range of cities, including Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mumbai by human rights activists and local NGOs. Bharosa NFI Regional Office Bharosa Trust 21/6/5 Peerpur House 8 Tilak Marg Lucknow - 226 001 U.P., India Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel.: +91(0) 522 2208689 Fax.:+91(0) 522 2205267 Group Site: http://www.gaybombay.info ========================== This message was posted to the gay_bombay Yahoo! Group. Responses to messages (by clicking "Reply") will also be posted on the eGroup and sent to all members. If you'd like to respond privately to the author of any message then please compose and send a new email message to the author's email address. Post:- gay_bombay@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Digest Mode:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] No Mail Mode:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Individual Mail Mode:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Contact Us:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives are at http://www.mail-archive.com/gay_bombay%40yahoogroups.com/maillist.html Classifieds for personal advertisements are back on www.gaybombay.info site. Please exercise restraint in the language of your personal advertisement. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gay_bombay/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
