14-year-old’s profile on gay site

The emergence of a user named Amrit, pimping the services of a 14-year-old Mumbai-based boy on a popular gay dating website, has raised the hackles of the LGBT community, who fear that this could lead to them being labelled paedophiles, worsening the persecution they already face.

Two weeks ago, gay rights activist and himself a child abuse victim Harish Iyer was told about the profile on planetromeo.com, and immediately alerted other activists at the Humsafar Trust. “I was aghast that a young boy who would not be able to indicate consent was being put up for abuse along with a rate card,” Iyer told DNA.

He said that in order to trap Amrit, he and a few other members of the website started chatting with him. But he appears to have become suspicious. “He made graphic and lurid offers for the young boy’s services, claiming that he was his nephew. But now, the profile has vanished, leaving us with a cold trail.”

This is the second time Iyer has come across such a profile. “A few months back, another profile on a gay dating website had got us concerned. But that too vanished.”

The Amsterdam-based website planetromeo.com is among the most popular among the gay community. “Along with other such sites, it often is the only outlet available to large swathes of men living closeted lives because of societal pressures. It will be very unfortunate if this is used to paint the entire community as paedophiles,” said Vivek Anand, activist and CEO of the Humsafar Trust.

Added senior gay activist Ashok Row Kavi, “We often come upon individuals who want money for sex on these dating websites. While some may scoff at this, calling it soliciting for prostitution, personally, I do not see it as a problem as long as they are mature adults who know what they are doing.

But no sane person can condone trafficking, especially if there is a minor involved like in this case.”

The community is anxious about the repercussions. “As it is people do not need a reason to attack, persecute or discriminate on the basis of sexuality. Now, this will give homophobes a convenient stick to beat us with, and they can start a refrain to shut down websites like these,” said Ashok.

Incidentally, the website itself says, “We do our best to respect diversity and we expect our users to do their best too. Naturally there are limits. No one under 18 is allowed. Racism, discriminatory insults and cruelty to people or animals are absolutely forbidden… In general, we don’t see it as our job to tell people how to behave, what to do or what not to do. We are all adults here and we should all take responsibility for our own actions.  But we will step in and take firm action when necessary.”

The same website was at the centre of another controversy after a spate of exploitation cases surfaced in Pune last month. Many had been robbed and coerced into sex—often without protection —by men they met on the gay dating site. “Since the victims weren't out to their families,they refused to pursue their complaints and no action could be taken. Besides, we fear the police as they can do very little, and the spotlight it will bring in its wake can cause more problems for us,” admitted a victim.

Himanshu Roy, joint CP and head of the Mumbai Crime Department said the cyber cell trolls websites using keywords to identify and nab paedophiles. “We work closely with watch-dog NGOs in this sector, who alert us if there is something fishy going on,” he said. “If anyone approaches us with a specific complaint about a profile, we will investigate.”

Roy also allayed fears that this could lead to a blanket homophobic response of shutting down an entire website. “I know there have been instances when we have had to do that. But in in this case, now that the apex court itself has said that there is no issue if two mutually consenting same-sex adults indulge in sex, we will also not target any website unfairly.”