Sodomy common in Maha jails: Publicist Flynn Remedios reacts against the removal of Section 377

MUMBAI: While the new Bills (which may soon become Acts) including the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, which seek to repeal and replace the Indian Penal Code 1860, Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 and the Indian Evidence Act 1872 have excluded the original Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which dealt with forced sexual acts between men, journalist and publicist Flynn Remedios has strongly expressed his disappointment with the development.

Speaking to this website, Remedios who has covered several beats, including Fashion and Entertainment in a career spanning over 25 years and worked for publications like the Times of India, The Economic Times, Asian Age, Free Press Journal and others, alleged that sodomy is common, if not rampant in Maharashtra’s jails.

“I have been a victim of attempted unnatural sexual acts during 2004 and 2006 at the Mumbai Central Prison, more popularly known as the Arthur Road Jail. I did not speak up about this till now because I did not want to increase my own problems. However, a recent trip to the same jail after nearly 20 years has forced me to come out in the open with these disclosures,” Remedios said.

According to Flynn who spoke to media persons in Mumbai today, he was arrested after a non-bailable warrant came to be issued by a magistrate in November this year, since he had failed to attend court hearings. “I was unwell and since I suffer from asthma, diabetes, hypertension and other cardiac ailments I could not attend court,” he said.

After his arrest he was remanded to judicial or magistrate custody and lodged at the Mumbai Central Prison at Saath Rastha, popularly known as the Arthur Road Jail, where he spent nearly a month.

“During my stay in the jail, there was one accused in my Circle, who was a victim of sodomy, but did not want to come out in the open. A month earlier, another under trial had complained to the authorities about being sodomised by the jawabdar of the circle he was lodged in. In my case, in the year 2004 and 2006, when I was lodged in Circle 6, Barrack 2 the jawabdar who was a Sri Lankan national and known as Malli attempted to forcibly sodomise me on several occasions. I had to fight him off and even complain to the Circle-in-charge. It was only because the Circle-in-Charge intervened and sternly warned Malli, that I was saved or else, I too would have been among the hundreds of males who are molested and sodomised on the jail premises. I have seen this happen both in the Thane and Arthur Road jails over the years. If Section 377 is removed, adult males have no protection against sexual assault,” Remedios lamented.

According to legal experts, even though a Parliamentary Committee had previously suggested keeping these rules, which criminalises sexual assault against men, this new Bill excludes them, making rape of men, transgender individuals, and animals not punishable by law.

According to Remedios, in its present form, without the provision for sexual abuse of animals, bestiality indirectly becomes legal in India and so does rape of men by men (or even women). The proposed law envisions no punishment for unnatural sexual offences against men, which is deplorable. Men also need protection against sexual assault, Remedios opined.