Community Service Project

Community service project undertaken by the club on 19th July, 2009.

Sexual orientation is a hushed up topic in contemporary India. Until recently in our country same sex intercourse used to be treated as criminal offense under section 377 of Indian Penal Code. On July 3rd, 2009 the Delhi High Court read it down and this decision was met with mixed reaction. Some rejoiced the High Court’s judgement saying it was long due others protested against this saying it will disrupt the Indian family structure.

On 19/07/2009, Rotaract Club Of Calcutta Metropolitan organised a panel discussion on the topic “Impact Of Reading Down Of Section 377 Of IPC On Contemporary India.”

co -sponsored by SAATHII. The aim of this discussion was not to decide what is right or what is wrong, not to condemn something as positive or negative but to encourage people to start thinking about the issue, exchanging views about this topic and then decide for themselves what the verdict should be instead of blindly following the stereotypical norms dictated by the society.

The event was hosted by Rtr. Anudipa. Our panel comprised of eminent personalities from various fields. The revered panelists were Rt. Amitava Mukherjee, past District Governor, RI District 3290 Mr. Anish Chowdhury, Founder of “Amitie” and Director of Manas Bangla

Mr. Pawan Dhall, Country Director Of SAATHII, most noted figure working on LGBT issues.

Prof. Rajarshi Chakraborty, Head Of the Department History, Brishnath College, Behrampur, Founder Member of “SWIKRITI” Dr. Subir Hazra Chowdhury, Consultant Pschyatrist, Institute of Psychiatry, SSKM Hospital Mr. Priyankar Deb Sarkar, Lawyer and occasional writer Rtr. Ananya Sinha, practicing psychologist And as moderator Rtr. Dr. Tirthankar Guhathakurta, Physician,Filmmaker and Human rights activist was present who skilfully manoeuvred the

discussion.

The guest speakers were presented with flower bouquets and memento as a token of gratitude on our part. We again thank them for taking time out of their busy schedules and attending this discussion and making it such a success.

The discussion touched different sub topics like what was problem faced by human-beings of non-heterosexual preference when section 377 existed. The brutal case-stories narrated by the speakers came as a nasty surprise to those of us who were ignorant of the plight of homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals. The speakers discussed about what one means by against the order of nature and how can one define what is normal and what is abnormal. The discussion was open to the audiences. Questions were asked by Rotarians, Rotaractors and other student participants. The legal aspect of the issue was also extensively discussed. The discussion was engrossing and educational and time soon came to an end. The event was over by 9:40 pm.

We hope that this enlightening discussion helped the audience to clear some of their queries regarding the issue and encouraged them to think and discuss about this subject instead of avoiding it or ignoring it. More than 100 people attended this event and I would like to seize

this opportunity to thank every one of the audience for their time and their support.

Regards,

Rtr. Anudipa Maiti

Secretary, Administration