Aditya Bandopadhyay

Aditya Bandopadhyay (sometimes transliterated at Bondyopadhyay, born February 1972) is a lawyer and LGBTQ rights activist in India, helping to challenge anti-sodomy laws,[1] establishing advocacy organizations and providing legal services to HIV/AIDS organizations.[2]

Early life and education

Bondyopadhyay is a lawyer in New Delhi, India. Bondyopadhyay grew up mostly in Agra, Uttar Pradesh State, India, though he spent parts of his childhood in Assam, India. Over the years Bondyopadhyay has lived in Indian cities of Agra, Chabua, Guwahati, Kolkata, and Delhi. He first attended Calcutta University and thereafter studied Law at the University of Burdwan, both in West Bengal, India.[3]

Activism

Bondyopadhyay has been an activist for the LGBTQ rights since 1993. Bondyopadhyay played a leading role in the movement to decriminalize of sodomy in India. He also works with the HIV/AIDS movement in South Asia for prevention intervention of male to male sexual [MSM] transmission and for care support and treatment issues of people living with HIV (PLHIV) and MSM.

As part of his work he has been associated with the Lawyers Collective, one of India's leading Human Rights Groups, and with the Naz Foundation a London-based agency that has helped set up over forty community owned HIV projects for MSM in India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh. He also coordinated the Secretariat of the Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM)] from its inception in October 2006 until December 2008.[4][2]

In 2001, he represented four employees of the NAZ Foundation and Bharosa Trust (an NGO in the city of Lucknow, India with the mission of HIV prevention efforts within the MSM community) who were charged with conspiracy to commit sodomy and possession of obscene material after a raid of their offices. He also ensured the unsealing of the offices after the raid and the continuation of organization's work.[5][6][7]He was also part of the legal team that aided Blue Diamond Society, Nepal's leading LGBTQ rights organization, in defending a challenge to their existence and functioning brought before the Nepali Supreme Court.

He was part of the legal team that researched and drafted the petition filed in the Delhi High Court challenging the constitutionality of India's anti-sodomy law, Section 377 Indian Penal Code. This petition (Naz Foundation v. Govt. of NCT of Delhi and Others) resulted in the 2 July 2009 decision of the Delhi High Court decriminalizing homosexuality in India and reading down the Section 377 to imply that it shall not apply to private adult consensual sexual activity.[8][1]

Bondyopadhyay was the first Asian and the third queer person in the world to testify before the United Nations Committee on Human Rights in 2002, against the state supported and sponsored oppression of sexual minorities in India. His testimony was the third testimony the UN had heard to date relating to abuse on account of sexual orientation.[9][10]

He has conducted extensive research on Human Rights violations of sexual minorities in South Asia, and regularly tours the region to conduct legal/Rights literacy training and workshops with Sexual minority groups. As part of his HIV activism he also continues to work for the Human Rights concerns of other affected populations like sex workers, transgender people, drug users, and HIV positive people.

He is the Director of Adhikaar, an LGBT Human Rights organisation based in Delhi, India, working to secure equal citizenship rights for all sexual minorities in India.[11] He is a founding member of the Global Forum for MSM and HIV and sat on its steering committee from its inception in 2007 until May 2014. He is a member of the Governing Board of APCOM.[12][13] Bandopadhyay helps run the Harmless Hugs collective, organizing for LGBT rights in India as well as serving as an adviser to various international development agencies.

Publications

Laws Affecting LGBT Persons in South Asia, A Desk Review

Same-Sex Love in a Difficult Climate; A study into the life situation of Sexual Minority (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Kothi and Transgender) persons in Bangladesh; co-authored with Shale Ahmed

My Body is Not Mine; Violence and hope in the lives of Kothsi; co-authored with Vidya Shah and photographs by Parthiv Shah

From the Frontline; Study into the violence faced by Kothis and MSM in six cities of India and one city in Bangladesh; co-authored with Shivananda Khan

Against the Odds; The impact of legal, socio-cultural, legislative and socio-economic impediments to effective HIV/AIDS interventions with males who have sex with males in Bangladesh; co-authored with Shivananda Khan

References
  1. "Bhopal gets drenched in Rainbow Colours: Bhopal Pride Parade - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  2. "New asia pacific statistics reveal an alarming incidence of HIV in MSM". PR Newswire. 29 November 2007.
  3. "India's highest court to revisit 16th-century ban on gay sex". ajc. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  5. raids
  7. "Decoding section 377: How the verdict erased basic human rights". Hindustan Times. 21 December 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  8. Safi, Michael (8 January 2018). "India's highest court to review colonial-era law criminalising gay sex". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  9. India: State-Supported Oppression and Persecution of Sexual Minorities, iglhrc.org, 8 April 2002
  10. Paradis, Evelyn (30 April 2002). "Sexual Minorities Reach the UN". Human Rights Tribune.
  11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 April 2012. Retrieved 28 April 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. APCOM
  13. ILGLaw

Aditya Bondyopadhyay gave an interview wherein he spoke about his life and work. This Interview was given as part of the oral history of LGBT activists and Leaders, undertaken by the Humsafar Trust in a Project called "Project Bolo". You can see the Interview of Aditya Bondyopadhyay here.

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