JOIN USAs many as 1,148 cases were registered and 1,279 arrested under the controversial Indian Penal Code Section 377 in 2014 after Supreme Court struck down an earlier court verdict that decriminalised homosexuality.
This is the first time the government has computed the figures under Section 377. The Supreme Court had in December 2013 struck down a 2009 Delhi High Court order that decriminalised Section 377.
The ‘Crime In India 2014’ report by National Crime Records Bureau revealed that Delhi with 194 section 377 cases topped the list, while Haryana stood second with 148 cases. UP recorded 137 cases, MP 128, Kerala 122 and Maharashtra 102, the report showed.
The controversial section led to the arrest of 1,279 persons including 14 women. Among them, 179 men were aged below 18, while 639 of them including women were between 18 and 30, 365 were between 30 and 45, 89 between 45 and 60, and nine above 60 years.
The magistrate freed 21 of the arrested before the trial began for want of evidence. Figures showed 1043 people were arrested, in what could be interpreted as police’s eagerness to arrest members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.