To begin with, Aligarh is not the town but the movie that was released in February, 2016 and narrates the real life incident of Dr. Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras, a language professor at Aligarh Muslim University who suffered a terrible fate in the struggle to retain the right to his sexuality while being subjected to society’s invasion of his privacy.
The movie questions the criminalization of homosexuality in India by portraying the spectacle of an individual’s trauma in the context of Indian law and politics and social stigma. Most of all, it begs to begin a discussion about human dignity, personal freedom, and choice in the Indian society.
Just like many unjust and obsolete laws that still exist in the Indian Penal Code, Section 377 came into being by the British Colonial Regime back in 1860 that criminalized ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature’. In 1967the British Parliament decriminalized homosexual acts and with a few amendments later, “abolished homosexual offences” as long as the individuals in question are well above 16 years of age and practice consent.
Ironically, the expulsion followed by a court hearing that Dr. Siras experienced in Aligarh Muslim University was caused by a consensual act of sexual intercourse between him and a Rickshaw puller who was also above 16 years of age.
This is why Aligarh, the movie, intervenes in the matters of homosexuality in the socio-judicial realm in India. Before an individual is a citizen of the state, he is a human being with an inherent biological make up and sexual orientation. Just like you can’t turn a heterosexual into a homosexual without there being a predisposition, the same way you can’t force a homosexual to turn into a heterosexual for society’s sake. Yes, there are clear biological implications with the absence of condition that aid procreation, but truth to be told, there cannot be a day when the entire human species becomes homosexual. Human species is all about variety, and nature maintains that balance with a plethora of biological, physiological, and sexual diversity.
Laws are created for the protection of people in a society. Laws are meant to support human dignity, maintain order in a state, protect people’s basic rights and identity, and ensure peace and justice in a community. In India, most of the Indian laws carry that meaning but there are still a few that are anachronistic and need to be weeded out to ensure a progressive human living.
Aligarh reminds us that there is currently a clear disconnect between what the Indian law is trying to contribute to society and what the people of the community need. We don’t need to wait for a time when an entire procession comprising of millions of homosexual individuals wakes up the Indian law-making authorities to listen and perhaps uses violence to make some noise. If we were to just recognize the human in us, the order and values of society can still be preserved while ensuring that justice is bestowed upon those who need it. That’s really what Aligarh is trying to plead for.
devikanam98 