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Re Thinking Queer Bodies Through Law

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RE-THINKING QUEER BODIES THROUGH LAW
The paper is an attempt to examine body and its construction in the colonial period and its post colonial impact. I locate this body in the category of queer subject. The colonial administration created the 'category ' of the queer subject as a result of governance, i.e. through the adoption of Indian Penal Code (‘IPC’) in 1860. Section 377 of the IPC criminalized sexual offense against the order of nature (non-procreative sex). The paper historically draws out Section 377 of the IPC. Through a close reading of the judgment the paper focuses on analysing the limits that the law poses to a discussion of sexuality. The paper, while recognising the importance of law and legal spaces acknowledges the …show more content…

the use of knowledge to rationalise, systematise and police the Indian subjects), is used as a framework by post-colonial analysts in analysing the constitution of the subject to the formation of the state. India has two parts to the colonial history. The former when East India Company had the reigns of command and latter when the Crown controlled the functioning of India. The two differed in the way in which power was exercised.
Post the Revolt of 1857 saw a reconstitution of the colonial power. One of the most significant one was the adoption of the IPC in 1860. The IPC was introduced without either an understanding of the Indian community or consultation with Indian leadership. The colonial administration implicitly created the 'queer subject ' by criminalizing sexual intercourse 'against the order of nature ' in Section 377 of the IPC. The primary occupation of the paper is to provide a different reading of the 2009 Delhi High Court Judgment on Section 377 of the IPC(Naz Foundation (India) Trust vs. Government of India &Ors WP (C) No.7455/2001 (Delhi High Court July 2, 2009). The paper first historically draws out how the queer subject came to be placed under Section 377 of the IPC. Having done this I spell out the frame of my analysis. In the third section in the paper I provide my different reading of the judgment. In the last two sections I provide the critique of the judgment, examine the limits of law the judgment and paradoxes within law based

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