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India’s Supreme Court to decide whether being gay is a ‘social evil’
The Supreme Court of India will be asked to decide whether homosexuality is a ‘social evil’ akin to wife burning or forcing a woman’s family to pay a dowry when she marries after the state of Gujarat denied a tax exemption to a movie due to its depiction of gay themes.
Meghdhanushya – The Color of Life, released in 2013, was the first ever film with homosexual themes made in the Gudjarati language.
Since 1997 the Gujarat State Government has provided tax relief for films that are made in Gujarati to encourage the local film industry.
However the state’s laws state that tax exemptions are not available for films that depict ‘evil customs, blind faith, sati, dowry and other social evils or those against national unity.’
The film’s director Kiran Kumar Rameshbhai Devmani took the state government to the Gujarat High Court and in February last year it directed the government to grant tax exemption to the film.
However the state government immediately appealed the decision, bringing the issue to the Supreme Court of India.
The state of Gujarat is arguing their decision was correct as the film has a ‘controversial’ subject matter and was granted an adults only certification by India’s censorship board.
A Supreme Court panel headed by Justice AR Dave has agreed to here the case.
The Indian Supreme Court previously struck down a Delhi High Court verdict that had decriminalized homosexuality in India, reinstating a colonial era sodomy law in January last year that was first put on the books in 1860.
Sati, also spelled ‘suttee,’ is the traditional Hindu custom of a wife following her husband into his funeral pyre and has been outlawed across India since 1861 – though further laws to discourage the practice were passed as recently as 1988.
The post India’s Supreme Court to decide whether being gay is a ‘social evil’ appeared first on Gay Star News.
Andrew Potts
www.gaystarnews.com/article/indias-supreme-court-to-decide-whether-being-gay-is-a-social-evil/
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