Gays arrested by the Police in India
The Times of India reports Gays arrests
09/01/2006
India - Asia

The Lucknow police on Wednesday arrested four men, including an
assistant accountant of the State Administrative Tribunal, on charges
of running a 'gay club' on Internet and indulging in 'unnatural' sex
in public places.

The police said that the men were also 'registered' members of an
international gay club having a membership of over two lakh and
branches all over India, including in major cities like Mumbai,
Hyderabad, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, and Kolkata.

Those caught red-handed from the picnic spot under Gudumba police
circle included Ahmad, an assistant accountant in State
Administrative Tribunal, Pramit, a teacher in an inter college,
Ashutosh Khanna, senior executive in an advertising firm and Pankaj
Gupta, a painter by profession.

Police said they all belonged to decent families and became part of
the club for the sake of pleasure. The name, phone numbers and
addresses of around 50 other city-based gay club members aged between
22-40 have been found by the police.

Senior superintendent of police Ashutosh Pandey, said that though gay
culture has been legalised in Western countries, Section 377 of
Indian Penal Code prohibits 'unnatural sex' by men and recommends a
minimum punishment of
10 years to a maximum of life-term.

Ahmad (30) confessed that it was while studying in class 12 that he
realised that he had different sexual preferences and was attracted
towards boys unlike other friends in his group

Despite being married and having a daughter from the marriage, Ahmad
preferred to be a 'bisexual' for the last 15 years.

He was member of international club "guys4men.com" and had recently
floated
a club with the name "talashekmitrkiyahoo.com".

Ahmad revealed that his daily routine was to work in the office till
2 PM and thereafter chat on the Internet on the office computer.

He used to meet 'partners' mostly in parks or other places, but also
brought them home at times. The family was unaware of his deeds. But
on Wednesday he stood with his head down saying "My family life has
been shattered".

The members used to contact each other through Net. They used to put
phone numbers, photographs and 'vital stats' of their body on the
net, inviting men like them for conversation and get-together

Even minor details about tattoos, sense of humour, religion,
preference, hair style, body hair were also included in the
profile. "Decency" and "Safe Sex" was the part of code of conduct
which every member was required to follow.

The group hosted a get-together on December 17, 2005, at a park in
ring road, Indiranagar, to increase their membership. The code word
was "white" before introducing on phone.

They also used to carry white handkerchief as an identification mark
on 'blind dates', but used aliases instead of original names.

Ashutosh Khanna, a resident of Indiranagar, however, denied before
reporters that he was a part of the club and insisted that he had
gone to meet Ahmad for some professional work when caught by the
police.

A piquant situation arose in the SSP office when Khanna was beaten up
by the journalists after he tried to snatch the camera of a TV
journalist.

The Times of India