Onir to leave India?

With the honourable Supreme Court’s Tuesday verdict  against the decriminalisation of gay sex, gay, filmmaker Onir who has been fighting a long and arduous battle against the criminalisation of gay sex, is seriously considering leaving the country for good. Speaking after the honourable Supreme Court’s verdict Onir said, “Honestly, I am not surprised by the verdict. But I am still deeply disheartened. To accept the Supreme Court’s verdict  is to accept oneself as a criminal. My life cannot be put on hold forever because of an archaic law. I cannot and will not accept this law. I wonder how many more years  before I am not considered a criminal in  my own country. Voluntary exile seems to be the answer.”

Onir says he would leave India if the law declaring gay sex as criminal is not changed. “And the law is applicable not only to same-gender sex. IPC 377 prohibits non-procreational consensual sex between any two adults. That means you can have sex in this country only to have a baby,” observes Onir. But exiled Indian artistes have never been happy. M F Husain died a very unhappy man. “But I am not happy now here in India either. This is not looking good. Our honourable Supreme Court wants to teach me to lie. And if I don’t lie I’ll be held for contempt of court. I can’t live a lie.”