On the SC judgement on Sec 377: Statement from TISS teachers

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 Gawhati.
29. 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, Centre 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. T. Jayaraman, School of Habitat Studies
74. Sharit Bhowmik, School of Management and Labour Studies.
75. Narendra Kakade, School of Health System Studies
76. Varsha Ayyar, School of Management and Labour Studies
77. Jennifer Kipgen, School of Social Work
78. Lakshmi Lingam, Deputy Director, Hyderabad
79. Virginius Xaxa, Deputy Director, TISS Guwahati
80. S. Parasuraman, Director, TISS and many other TISS faculty.